diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/AbstractTestTlsRejectPlainText.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/AbstractTestTlsRejectPlainText.java
index 9e69e92f1658..9586fde5f2f2 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/AbstractTestTlsRejectPlainText.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/AbstractTestTlsRejectPlainText.java
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
 
 public abstract class AbstractTestTlsRejectPlainText {
 
-  protected static final HBaseCommonTestingUtil UTIL = new HBaseCommonTestingUtil();
+  protected static HBaseCommonTestingUtil UTIL;
 
   protected static File DIR;
 
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/TestNettyTlsIPCRejectPlainText.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/TestNettyTlsIPCRejectPlainText.java
index d9a14131c302..378101f76f30 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/TestNettyTlsIPCRejectPlainText.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/TestNettyTlsIPCRejectPlainText.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseClassTestRule;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.HBaseCommonTestingUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.ipc.TestProtobufRpcServiceImpl;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.MediumTests;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.RPCTests;
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@ public class TestNettyTlsIPCRejectPlainText extends AbstractTestTlsRejectPlainTe
 
   @BeforeClass
   public static void setUpBeforeClass() throws IOException {
+    UTIL = new HBaseCommonTestingUtil();
     initialize();
   }
 
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/TestSaslTlsIPCRejectPlainText.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/TestSaslTlsIPCRejectPlainText.java
index 8c0d45921b74..a6984fcdf3a8 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/TestSaslTlsIPCRejectPlainText.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/security/TestSaslTlsIPCRejectPlainText.java
@@ -46,9 +46,7 @@ public class TestSaslTlsIPCRejectPlainText extends AbstractTestTlsRejectPlainTex
   public static final HBaseClassTestRule CLASS_RULE =
     HBaseClassTestRule.forClass(TestSaslTlsIPCRejectPlainText.class);
 
-  private static final HBaseTestingUtil UTIL = new HBaseTestingUtil();
-
-  private static final File KEYTAB_FILE = new File(UTIL.getDataTestDir("keytab").toUri().getPath());
+  private static File KEYTAB_FILE;
 
   private static MiniKdc KDC;
   private static String HOST = "localhost";
@@ -57,13 +55,16 @@ public class TestSaslTlsIPCRejectPlainText extends AbstractTestTlsRejectPlainTex
 
   @BeforeClass
   public static void setUpBeforeClass() throws Exception {
+    HBaseTestingUtil util = new HBaseTestingUtil();
+    UTIL = util;
     initialize();
-    KDC = UTIL.setupMiniKdc(KEYTAB_FILE);
+    KEYTAB_FILE = new File(util.getDataTestDir("keytab").toUri().getPath());
+    KDC = util.setupMiniKdc(KEYTAB_FILE);
     PRINCIPAL = "hbase/" + HOST;
     KDC.createPrincipal(KEYTAB_FILE, PRINCIPAL);
     HBaseKerberosUtils.setPrincipalForTesting(PRINCIPAL + "@" + KDC.getRealm());
     UGI = loginKerberosPrincipal(KEYTAB_FILE.getCanonicalPath(), PRINCIPAL);
-    setSecuredConfiguration(UTIL.getConfiguration());
+    setSecuredConfiguration(util.getConfiguration());
     SecurityInfo securityInfoMock = Mockito.mock(SecurityInfo.class);
     Mockito.when(securityInfoMock.getServerPrincipal())
       .thenReturn(HBaseKerberosUtils.KRB_PRINCIPAL);