diff --git a/yarn/common/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ClientBase.scala b/yarn/common/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ClientBase.scala
index cb4cc7b119066..d6c96554c040f 100644
--- a/yarn/common/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ClientBase.scala
+++ b/yarn/common/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ClientBase.scala
@@ -386,7 +386,10 @@ trait ClientBase extends Logging {
     // Forward the Spark configuration to the application master / executors.
     // TODO: it might be nicer to pass these as an internal environment variable rather than
     // as Java options, due to complications with string parsing of nested quotes.
-    javaOpts ++= Utils.sparkJavaOpts(sparkConf)
+    // TODO: Use Utils.sparkJavaOpts here once we figure out how to deal with quotes and backslashes
+    for ((k, v) <- sparkConf.getAll) {
+      javaOpts += "-D" + k + "=" + "\\\"" + v + "\\\""
+    }
 
     if (args.amClass == classOf[ApplicationMaster].getName) {
       sparkConf.getOption("spark.driver.extraJavaOptions")
diff --git a/yarn/common/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ExecutorRunnableUtil.scala b/yarn/common/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ExecutorRunnableUtil.scala
index eb22eeeb0098e..d4769d34e7440 100644
--- a/yarn/common/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ExecutorRunnableUtil.scala
+++ b/yarn/common/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/yarn/ExecutorRunnableUtil.scala
@@ -67,7 +67,13 @@ trait ExecutorRunnableUtil extends Logging {
     // registers with the Scheduler and transfers the spark configs. Since the Executor backend
     // uses Akka to connect to the scheduler, the akka settings are needed as well as the
     // authentication settings.
-    javaOpts ++= Utils.sparkJavaOpts(sparkConf, SparkConf.isExecutorStartupConf)
+    // TODO: Use Utils.sparkJavaOpts here once we figure out how to deal with quotes and backslashes
+    sparkConf.getAll.
+      filter { case (k, v) => k.startsWith("spark.auth") || k.startsWith("spark.akka") }.
+      foreach { case (k, v) => javaOpts += "-D" + k + "=" + "\\\"" + v + "\\\"" }
+
+    sparkConf.getAkkaConf.
+      foreach { case (k, v) => javaOpts += "-D" + k + "=" + "\\\"" + v + "\\\"" }
 
     // Commenting it out for now - so that people can refer to the properties if required. Remove
     // it once cpuset version is pushed out.