diff --git a/neutron/context.py b/neutron/context.py
index 107022fb96..7d294427ab 100644
--- a/neutron/context.py
+++ b/neutron/context.py
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ class ContextBase(common_context.RequestContext):
         context.is_admin = True
 
         if 'admin' not in [x.lower() for x in context.roles]:
-            context.roles.append('admin')
+            context.roles = context.roles + ["admin"]
 
         if read_deleted is not None:
             context.read_deleted = read_deleted
diff --git a/neutron/tests/unit/test_api_v2_resource.py b/neutron/tests/unit/test_api_v2_resource.py
index 223b05267a..12f30afcad 100644
--- a/neutron/tests/unit/test_api_v2_resource.py
+++ b/neutron/tests/unit/test_api_v2_resource.py
@@ -89,6 +89,16 @@ class RequestTestCase(base.BaseTestCase):
     def test_context_without_neutron_context(self):
         self.assertTrue(self.req.context.is_admin)
 
+    def test_request_context_elevated(self):
+        user_context = context.Context(
+            'fake_user', 'fake_project', admin=False)
+        self.assertFalse(user_context.is_admin)
+        admin_context = user_context.elevated()
+        self.assertFalse(user_context.is_admin)
+        self.assertTrue(admin_context.is_admin)
+        self.assertNotIn('admin', user_context.roles)
+        self.assertIn('admin', admin_context.roles)
+
     def test_best_match_language(self):
         # Test that we are actually invoking language negotiation by webop
         request = wsgi.Request.blank('/')