diff --git a/ql/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/txn/compactor/CompactorTest.java b/ql/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/txn/compactor/CompactorTest.java
index d97f457c11c9..afb3e878ac68 100644
--- a/ql/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/txn/compactor/CompactorTest.java
+++ b/ql/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/txn/compactor/CompactorTest.java
@@ -155,6 +155,13 @@ protected final void setup(HiveConf conf) throws Exception {
     }
     // Set this config to true in the base class, there are extended test classes which set this config to false.
     MetastoreConf.setBoolVar(conf, ConfVars.COMPACTOR_CLEAN_ABORTS_USING_CLEANER, true);
+    // Post-compaction stats gathering runs an ANALYZE TABLE query through the Driver,
+    // which triggers SessionState.setupAuth() and fails here with a ClassNotFoundException:
+    // data/conf/hive-site.xml points hive.security.authorization.manager at
+    // SQLStdHiveAuthorizerFactoryForTest, but that class lives in itests/util which
+    // isn't on the ql test classpath. StatsUpdater swallows the failure so tests still pass.
+    // Disable stats by default as these tests do not assert on the stats that StatsUpdater.gatherStats produces.
+    HiveConf.setBoolVar(conf, HiveConf.ConfVars.HIVE_COMPACTOR_GATHER_STATS, false);
     TestTxnDbUtil.setConfValues(conf);
     TestTxnDbUtil.cleanDb(conf);
     TestTxnDbUtil.prepDb(conf);
diff --git a/ql/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/txn/compactor/TestDeltaFilesMetrics.java b/ql/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/txn/compactor/TestDeltaFilesMetrics.java
index 28ec7750e9cd..5f6188192a0c 100644
--- a/ql/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/txn/compactor/TestDeltaFilesMetrics.java
+++ b/ql/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hive/ql/txn/compactor/TestDeltaFilesMetrics.java
@@ -63,7 +63,6 @@ private void setUpHiveConf() {
         TimeUnit.SECONDS);
     MetastoreConf.setDoubleVar(conf, MetastoreConf.ConfVars.METASTORE_DELTAMETRICS_DELTA_PCT_THRESHOLD, 0.15f);
     MetastoreConf.setBoolVar(conf, MetastoreConf.ConfVars.METRICS_ENABLED, true);
-    HiveConf.setBoolVar(conf, HiveConf.ConfVars.HIVE_COMPACTOR_GATHER_STATS, false);
   }
 
   @Override