diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 95921ff806..47a599225d 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ Merged from 2.0:
  * Fix race in FileCacheService RemovalListener (CASSANDRA-7278)
  * Fix inconsistent use of consistencyForCommit that allowed LOCAL_QUORUM
    operations to incorrect become full QUORUM (CASSANDRA-7345)
+ * Properly handle unrecognized opcodes and flags (CASSANDRA-7440)
+ * (Hadoop) close CqlRecordWriter clients when finished (CASSANDRA-7459)
 
 
 2.1.0-rc2
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/hadoop/cql3/CqlRecordWriter.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/hadoop/cql3/CqlRecordWriter.java
index b9bd15d609..5075be495d 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/hadoop/cql3/CqlRecordWriter.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/hadoop/cql3/CqlRecordWriter.java
@@ -279,6 +279,9 @@ class CqlRecordWriter extends AbstractColumnFamilyRecordWriter<Map<String, ByteB
                     }
                 }
             }
+
+            // close all our connections once we are done.
+            closeInternal();
         }
 
         /** get prepared statement id from cache, otherwise prepare it from Cassandra server*/
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/transport/Frame.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/transport/Frame.java
index b29e80c1e5..7ca1115257 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/transport/Frame.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/transport/Frame.java
@@ -114,14 +114,15 @@ public class Frame
             COMPRESSED,
             TRACING;
 
+            private static final Flag[] ALL_VALUES = values();
+
             public static EnumSet<Flag> deserialize(int flags)
             {
                 EnumSet<Flag> set = EnumSet.noneOf(Flag.class);
-                Flag[] values = Flag.values();
-                for (int n = 0; n < 8; n++)
+                for (int n = 0; n < ALL_VALUES.length; n++)
                 {
                     if ((flags & (1 << n)) != 0)
-                        set.add(values[n]);
+                        set.add(ALL_VALUES[n]);
                 }
                 return set;
             }
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/transport/Message.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/transport/Message.java
index f27d5452e6..eea86e51f4 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/transport/Message.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/transport/Message.java
@@ -110,6 +110,8 @@ public abstract class Message
 
         public static Type fromOpcode(int opcode, Direction direction)
         {
+            if (opcode >= opcodeIdx.length)
+                throw new ProtocolException(String.format("Unknown opcode %d", opcode));
             Type t = opcodeIdx[opcode];
             if (t == null)
                 throw new ProtocolException(String.format("Unknown opcode %d", opcode));