diff --git a/client/hostinfo_unix.cpp b/client/hostinfo_unix.cpp
index 88f0dad4b8..9eab4c3db7 100644
--- a/client/hostinfo_unix.cpp
+++ b/client/hostinfo_unix.cpp
@@ -1654,6 +1654,7 @@ int HOST_INFO::get_os_info() {
                     found_something = true;
                     safe_strcpy(buf2, strchr(buf, '=') + 1);
                     strip_quotes(buf2);
+                    unescape_os_release(buf2);
                     safe_strcpy(dist_pretty, buf2);
                     continue;
                 }
@@ -1661,6 +1662,7 @@ int HOST_INFO::get_os_info() {
                     found_something = true;
                     safe_strcpy(buf2, strchr(buf, '=') + 1);
                     strip_quotes(buf2);
+                    unescape_os_release(buf2);
                     safe_strcpy(dist_name, buf2);
                     continue;
                 }
@@ -1668,6 +1670,7 @@ int HOST_INFO::get_os_info() {
                     found_something = true;
                     safe_strcpy(buf2, strchr(buf, '=') + 1);
                     strip_quotes(buf2);
+                    unescape_os_release(buf2);
                     safe_strcpy(dist_version, buf2);
                     continue;
                 }
@@ -1676,6 +1679,7 @@ int HOST_INFO::get_os_info() {
                     found_something = true;
                     safe_strcpy(buf2, strchr(buf, '=') + 1);
                     strip_quotes(buf2);
+                    unescape_os_release(buf2);
                     safe_strcpy(dist_codename, buf2);
                     continue;
                 }
diff --git a/client/hostinfo_unix_test.cpp b/client/hostinfo_unix_test.cpp
index 72a3c38a01..3bb56304e3 100644
--- a/client/hostinfo_unix_test.cpp
+++ b/client/hostinfo_unix_test.cpp
@@ -97,8 +97,10 @@ void strip_quotes(char *str) {
     while (n>0) {
         n--;
         if (str[n] == '"' || str[n] == '\'') {
-            str[n] = 0;
-            continue;
+            if (str[n-1] != '\\') {
+                str[n] = 0;
+                continue;
+            }
         }
         if (!isascii(str[n])) break;
         if (!isspace(str[n])) break;
@@ -121,8 +123,10 @@ void strip_quotes(string& str) {
     int n = (int) str.length();
     while (n>0) {
         if (str[n-1] == '"' || str[n-1] == '\'') {
-            n--;
-            continue;
+            if (str[n-2] != '\\') {
+                n--;
+                continue;
+            }
         }
         if (!isascii(str[n-1])) break;
         if (!isspace(str[n-1])) break;
@@ -131,6 +135,34 @@ void strip_quotes(string& str) {
     str.erase(n, str.length()-n);
 }
 
+void unescape_os_release(char* buf) {
+    char* out = buf;
+    char* in = buf;
+    while (*in) {
+        if (*in != '\\') {
+            *out++ = *in++;
+        } else if (*(in+1) == '$') {
+            *out++ = '$';
+            in += 2;
+        } else if (*(in+1) == '\'') {
+            *out++ = '\'';
+            in += 2;
+        } else if (*(in+1) == '"') {
+            *out++ = '"';
+            in += 2;
+        } else if (*(in+1) == '\\') {
+            *out++ = '\\';
+            in += 2;
+        } else if (*(in+1) == '`') {
+            *out++ = '`';
+            in += 2;
+        } else {
+            *out++ = *in++;
+        }
+    }
+    *out = 0;
+}
+
 int main(void) {
     char buf[256], features[1024], model_buf[1024];
     bool vendor_found=false, model_found=false;
@@ -491,10 +523,12 @@ int main(void) {
         if (f) {
             while (fgets(buf, 256, f)) {
                 strip_whitespace(buf);
+                // check if substr is at the beginning of the line
                 if ( strstr(buf, "PRETTY_NAME=") == buf ) {
                     found_something = true;
                     safe_strcpy(buf2, strchr(buf, '=') + 1);
                     strip_quotes(buf2);
+                    unescape_os_release(buf2);
                     safe_strcpy(dist_pretty, buf2);
                     continue;
                 }
@@ -502,6 +536,7 @@ int main(void) {
                     found_something = true;
                     safe_strcpy(buf2, strchr(buf, '=') + 1);
                     strip_quotes(buf2);
+                    unescape_os_release(buf2);
                     safe_strcpy(dist_name, buf2);
                     continue;
                 }
@@ -509,6 +544,7 @@ int main(void) {
                     found_something = true;
                     safe_strcpy(buf2, strchr(buf, '=') + 1);
                     strip_quotes(buf2);
+                    unescape_os_release(buf2);
                     safe_strcpy(dist_version, buf2);
                     continue;
                 }
@@ -517,6 +553,7 @@ int main(void) {
                     found_something = true;
                     safe_strcpy(buf2, strchr(buf, '=') + 1);
                     strip_quotes(buf2);
+                    unescape_os_release(buf2);
                     safe_strcpy(dist_codename, buf2);
                     continue;
                 }
diff --git a/lib/str_util.cpp b/lib/str_util.cpp
index 36c4748bbe..2e37a527f5 100644
--- a/lib/str_util.cpp
+++ b/lib/str_util.cpp
@@ -352,8 +352,10 @@ void strip_quotes(char *str) {
     while (n>0) {
         n--;
         if (str[n] == '"' || str[n] == '\'') {
-            str[n] = 0;
-            continue;
+            if (str[n-1] != '\\') {
+                str[n] = 0;
+                continue;
+            }
         }
         if (!isascii(str[n])) break;
         if (!isspace(str[n])) break;
@@ -376,8 +378,10 @@ void strip_quotes(string& str) {
     int n = (int) str.length();
     while (n>0) {
         if (str[n-1] == '"' || str[n-1] == '\'') {
-            n--;
-            continue;
+            if (str[n-2] != '\\') {
+                n--;
+                continue;
+            }
         }
         if (!isascii(str[n-1])) break;
         if (!isspace(str[n-1])) break;
@@ -386,6 +390,36 @@ void strip_quotes(string& str) {
     str.erase(n, str.length()-n);
 }
 
+// This only unescapes some special shell characters used in /etc/os-release
+// see https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/os-release.html
+void unescape_os_release(char* buf) {
+    char* out = buf;
+    char* in = buf;
+    while (*in) {
+        if (*in != '\\') {
+            *out++ = *in++;
+        } else if (*(in+1) == '$') {
+            *out++ = '$';
+            in += 2;
+        } else if (*(in+1) == '\'') {
+            *out++ = '\'';
+            in += 2;
+        } else if (*(in+1) == '"') {
+            *out++ = '"';
+            in += 2;
+        } else if (*(in+1) == '\\') {
+            *out++ = '\\';
+            in += 2;
+        } else if (*(in+1) == '`') {
+            *out++ = '`';
+            in += 2;
+        } else {
+            *out++ = *in++;
+        }
+    }
+    *out = 0;
+}
+
 char* time_to_string(double t) {
     static char buf[100];
     if (!t) {
diff --git a/lib/str_util.h b/lib/str_util.h
index a139690174..24746156c4 100644
--- a/lib/str_util.h
+++ b/lib/str_util.h
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ extern void strip_whitespace(char *str);
 extern void strip_whitespace(std::string&);
 extern void strip_quotes(char *str);
 extern void strip_quotes(std::string&);
+extern void unescape_os_release(char *str);
 extern char* time_to_string(double);
 extern char* precision_time_to_string(double);
 extern void secs_to_hmsf(double, char*);