diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/Analyzer.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/Analyzer.scala
index 536d38777f89d..f8f4799322b3b 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/Analyzer.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/Analyzer.scala
@@ -838,6 +838,8 @@ class Analyzer(
           // attributes that its child might have or could have.
           val missing = missingAttrs -- g.child.outputSet
           g.copy(join = true, child = addMissingAttr(g.child, missing))
+        case d: Distinct =>
+          throw new AnalysisException(s"Can't add $missingAttrs to $d")
         case u: UnaryNode =>
           u.withNewChildren(addMissingAttr(u.child, missingAttrs) :: Nil)
         case other =>
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
index 0ee8c959eeb4d..60978efddd7f8 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SQLQuerySuite.scala
@@ -1106,6 +1106,30 @@ class SQLQuerySuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
     )
   }
 
+  test("SPARK-17863: SELECT distinct does not work correctly if order by missing attribute") {
+    checkAnswer(
+      sql("""select distinct struct.a, struct.b
+          |from (
+          |  select named_struct('a', 1, 'b', 2, 'c', 3) as struct
+          |  union all
+          |  select named_struct('a', 1, 'b', 2, 'c', 4) as struct) tmp
+          |order by a, b
+          |""".stripMargin),
+      Row(1, 2) :: Nil)
+
+    val error = intercept[AnalysisException] {
+      sql("""select distinct struct.a, struct.b
+            |from (
+            |  select named_struct('a', 1, 'b', 2, 'c', 3) as struct
+            |  union all
+            |  select named_struct('a', 1, 'b', 2, 'c', 4) as struct) tmp
+            |order by struct.a, struct.b
+            |""".stripMargin)
+    }
+    assert(error.message contains "cannot resolve '`struct.a`' given input columns: [a, b]")
+
+  }
+
   test("cast boolean to string") {
     // TODO Ensure true/false string letter casing is consistent with Hive in all cases.
     checkAnswer(