diff --git a/hbase-protocol-shaded/src/main/protobuf/server/region/StoreFileTracker.proto b/hbase-protocol-shaded/src/main/protobuf/server/region/StoreFileTracker.proto
index 2a269ea4ac4e..001cb3ea233c 100644
--- a/hbase-protocol-shaded/src/main/protobuf/server/region/StoreFileTracker.proto
+++ b/hbase-protocol-shaded/src/main/protobuf/server/region/StoreFileTracker.proto
@@ -33,4 +33,5 @@ message StoreFileEntry {
 message StoreFileList {
   required uint64 timestamp = 1;
   repeated StoreFileEntry store_file = 2;
+  optional uint64 version = 3 [default = 1];
 }
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/storefiletracker/StoreFileListFile.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/storefiletracker/StoreFileListFile.java
index 7a6938106d3a..b6287b076b3e 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/storefiletracker/StoreFileListFile.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/storefiletracker/StoreFileListFile.java
@@ -17,11 +17,13 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.regionserver.storefiletracker;
 
+import com.google.errorprone.annotations.RestrictedApi;
 import java.io.EOFException;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Comparator;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.NavigableMap;
@@ -59,19 +61,28 @@
  * without error on partial bytes if you stop at some special points, but the return message will
  * have incorrect field value. We should try our best to prevent this happens because loading an
  * incorrect store file list file usually leads to data loss.
+ * <p/>
+ * To prevent failing silently while downgrading, where we may miss some newly introduced fields in
+ * {@link StoreFileList} which are necessary, we introduce a 'version' field in
+ * {@link StoreFileList}. If we find out that we are reading a {@link StoreFileList} with higher
+ * version, we will fail immediately and tell users that you need extra steps while downgrading, to
+ * prevent potential data loss.
  */
 @InterfaceAudience.Private
 class StoreFileListFile {
 
   private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(StoreFileListFile.class);
 
+  // the current version for StoreFileList
+  static final long VERSION = 1;
+
   static final String TRACK_FILE_DIR = ".filelist";
 
-  private static final String TRACK_FILE_PREFIX = "f1";
+  static final String TRACK_FILE_PREFIX = "f1";
 
   private static final String TRACK_FILE_ROTATE_PREFIX = "f2";
 
-  private static final char TRACK_FILE_SEPARATOR = '.';
+  static final char TRACK_FILE_SEPARATOR = '.';
 
   static final Pattern TRACK_FILE_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("^f(1|2)\\.\\d+$");
 
@@ -114,7 +125,18 @@ static StoreFileList load(FileSystem fs, Path path) throws IOException {
       throw new IOException(
         "Checksum mismatch, expected " + expectedChecksum + ", actual " + calculatedChecksum);
     }
-    return StoreFileList.parseFrom(data);
+    StoreFileList storeFileList = StoreFileList.parseFrom(data);
+    if (storeFileList.getVersion() > VERSION) {
+      LOG.error(
+        "The loaded store file list is in version {}, which is higher than expected"
+          + " version {}. Stop loading to prevent potential data loss. This usually because your"
+          + " cluster is downgraded from a newer version. You need extra steps before downgrading,"
+          + " like switching back to default store file tracker.",
+        storeFileList.getVersion(), VERSION);
+      throw new IOException("Higher store file list version detected, expected " + VERSION
+        + ", got " + storeFileList.getVersion());
+    }
+    return storeFileList;
   }
 
   StoreFileList load(Path path) throws IOException {
@@ -145,7 +167,7 @@ private NavigableMap<Long, List<Path>> listFiles() throws IOException {
     if (statuses == null || statuses.length == 0) {
       return Collections.emptyNavigableMap();
     }
-    TreeMap<Long, List<Path>> map = new TreeMap<>((l1, l2) -> l2.compareTo(l1));
+    TreeMap<Long, List<Path>> map = new TreeMap<>(Comparator.reverseOrder());
     for (FileStatus status : statuses) {
       Path file = status.getPath();
       if (!status.isFile()) {
@@ -232,8 +254,23 @@ StoreFileList load(boolean readOnly) throws IOException {
     return lists[winnerIndex];
   }
 
+  @RestrictedApi(explanation = "Should only be called in tests", link = "",
+      allowedOnPath = ".*/StoreFileListFile.java|.*/src/test/.*")
+  static void write(FileSystem fs, Path file, StoreFileList storeFileList) throws IOException {
+    byte[] data = storeFileList.toByteArray();
+    CRC32 crc32 = new CRC32();
+    crc32.update(data);
+    int checksum = (int) crc32.getValue();
+    // 4 bytes length at the beginning, plus 4 bytes checksum
+    try (FSDataOutputStream out = fs.create(file, true)) {
+      out.writeInt(data.length);
+      out.write(data);
+      out.writeInt(checksum);
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
-   * We will set the timestamp in this method so just pass the builder in
+   * We will set the timestamp and version in this method so just pass the builder in
    */
   void update(StoreFileList.Builder builder) throws IOException {
     if (nextTrackFile < 0) {
@@ -241,22 +278,15 @@ void update(StoreFileList.Builder builder) throws IOException {
       // we are already in the update method, which is not read only, so pass false
       load(false);
     }
-    long timestamp = Math.max(prevTimestamp + 1, EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTime());
-    byte[] actualData = builder.setTimestamp(timestamp).build().toByteArray();
-    CRC32 crc32 = new CRC32();
-    crc32.update(actualData);
-    int checksum = (int) crc32.getValue();
-    // 4 bytes length at the beginning, plus 4 bytes checksum
     FileSystem fs = ctx.getRegionFileSystem().getFileSystem();
-    try (FSDataOutputStream out = fs.create(trackFiles[nextTrackFile], true)) {
-      out.writeInt(actualData.length);
-      out.write(actualData);
-      out.writeInt(checksum);
-    }
+    long timestamp = Math.max(prevTimestamp + 1, EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTime());
+    write(fs, trackFiles[nextTrackFile],
+      builder.setTimestamp(timestamp).setVersion(VERSION).build());
     // record timestamp
     prevTimestamp = timestamp;
     // rotate the file
     nextTrackFile = 1 - nextTrackFile;
+
     try {
       fs.delete(trackFiles[nextTrackFile], false);
     } catch (IOException e) {
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/storefiletracker/TestStoreFileListFile.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/storefiletracker/TestStoreFileListFile.java
index c3d876ec0142..f1fcb924f899 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/storefiletracker/TestStoreFileListFile.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/storefiletracker/TestStoreFileListFile.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.RegionServerTests;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.testclassification.SmallTests;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.EnvironmentEdgeManager;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.ClassRule;
@@ -222,4 +223,20 @@ public void testConcurrentUpdate() throws IOException {
     assertEquals("hehe", entry.getName());
     assertEquals(10, entry.getSize());
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testLoadHigherVersion() throws IOException {
+    // write a fake StoreFileList file with higher version
+    StoreFileList storeFileList =
+      StoreFileList.newBuilder().setVersion(StoreFileListFile.VERSION + 1)
+        .setTimestamp(EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTime()).build();
+    Path trackFileDir = new Path(testDir, StoreFileListFile.TRACK_FILE_DIR);
+    StoreFileListFile.write(FileSystem.get(UTIL.getConfiguration()),
+      new Path(trackFileDir, StoreFileListFile.TRACK_FILE_PREFIX
+        + StoreFileListFile.TRACK_FILE_SEPARATOR + EnvironmentEdgeManager.currentTime()),
+      storeFileList);
+    IOException error = assertThrows(IOException.class, () -> create().load(false));
+    assertEquals("Higher store file list version detected, expected " + StoreFileListFile.VERSION
+      + ", got " + (StoreFileListFile.VERSION + 1), error.getMessage());
+  }
 }