diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 13647ccada..b68cf0d5d1 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Merged from 2.2:
  * (Hadoop) fix splits calculation (CASSANDRA-10640)
  * (Hadoop) ensure that Cluster instances are always closed (CASSANDRA-10058)
 Merged from 2.1:
+ * Forbid compact clustering column type changes in ALTER TABLE (CASSANDRA-8879)
  * Reject incremental repair with subrange repair (CASSANDRA-10422)
  * Add a nodetool command to refresh size_estimates (CASSANDRA-9579)
  * Invalidate cache after stream receive task is completed (CASSANDRA-10341)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/statements/AlterTableStatement.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/statements/AlterTableStatement.java
index 879f6187c1..a9b9d37a87 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/statements/AlterTableStatement.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/statements/AlterTableStatement.java
@@ -348,6 +348,9 @@ public class AlterTableStatement extends SchemaAlteringStatement
                                                                    validatorType.asCQL3Type()));
                 break;
             case CLUSTERING:
+                if (!cfm.isCQLTable())
+                    throw new InvalidRequestException(String.format("Cannot alter clustering column %s in a non-CQL3 table", def.name));
+
                 AbstractType<?> oldType = cfm.comparator.subtype(def.position());
                 // Note that CFMetaData.validateCompatibility already validate the change we're about to do. However, the error message it
                 // sends is a bit cryptic for a CQL3 user, so validating here for a sake of returning a better error message
diff --git a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/validation/operations/AlterTest.java b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/validation/operations/AlterTest.java
index 2451c48ece..9f8bea2902 100644
--- a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/validation/operations/AlterTest.java
+++ b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/validation/operations/AlterTest.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import org.apache.cassandra.cql3.CQLTester;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.ColumnFamilyStore;
 import org.apache.cassandra.db.Keyspace;
 import org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.ConfigurationException;
+import org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.InvalidRequestException;
 import org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.SyntaxException;
 import org.apache.cassandra.schema.SchemaKeyspace;
 
@@ -316,4 +317,11 @@ public class AlterTest extends CQLTester
             assertEquals(errorMsg, e.getMessage());
         }
     }
+
+    @Test // tests CASSANDRA-8879
+    public void testAlterClusteringColumnTypeInCompactTable() throws Throwable
+    {
+        createTable("CREATE TABLE %s (key blob, column1 blob, value blob, PRIMARY KEY ((key), column1)) WITH COMPACT STORAGE");
+        assertInvalidThrow(InvalidRequestException.class, "ALTER TABLE %s ALTER column1 TYPE ascii");
+    }
 }