diff --git a/yarn/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ApplicationMaster.scala b/yarn/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ApplicationMaster.scala
index 9c77dff48dc8b..618db7f9085c2 100644
--- a/yarn/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ApplicationMaster.scala
+++ b/yarn/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ApplicationMaster.scala
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ private[spark] class ApplicationMaster(args: ApplicationMasterArguments,
   @volatile private var exitCode = 0
   @volatile private var unregistered = false
   @volatile private var finished = false
-  @volatile private var finalStatus = FinalApplicationStatus.SUCCEEDED
+  @volatile private var finalStatus = getDefaultFinalStatus
   @volatile private var finalMsg: String = ""
   @volatile private var userClassThread: Thread = _
 
@@ -152,6 +152,20 @@ private[spark] class ApplicationMaster(args: ApplicationMasterArguments,
     exitCode
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Set the default final application status for client mode to UNDEFINED to handle
+   * if YARN HA restarts the application so that it properly retries. Set the final
+   * status to SUCCEEDED in cluster mode to handle if the user calls System.exit
+   * from the application code.
+   */
+  final def getDefaultFinalStatus() = {
+    if (isDriver) {
+      FinalApplicationStatus.SUCCEEDED
+    } else {
+      FinalApplicationStatus.UNDEFINED
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * unregister is used to completely unregister the application from the ResourceManager.
    * This means the ResourceManager will not retry the application attempt on your behalf if