diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 30a741e718..37630e6a70 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@
 
 
 2.1.3
+ * (cqlsh) Escape clqshrc passwords properly (CASSANDRA-8618)
  * Fix NPE when passing wrong argument in ALTER TABLE statement (CASSANDRA-8355)
  * Pig: Refactor and deprecate CqlStorage (CASSANDRA-8599)
  * Don't reuse the same cleanup strategy for all sstables (CASSANDRA-8537)
diff --git a/bin/cqlsh b/bin/cqlsh
index 427dcac17d..21b1708d56 100755
--- a/bin/cqlsh
+++ b/bin/cqlsh
@@ -1927,9 +1927,12 @@ def read_options(cmdlineargs, environment):
     configs = ConfigParser.SafeConfigParser()
     configs.read(CONFIG_FILE)
 
+    rawconfigs = ConfigParser.RawConfigParser()
+    rawconfigs.read(CONFIG_FILE)
+
     optvalues = optparse.Values()
     optvalues.username = option_with_default(configs.get, 'authentication', 'username')
-    optvalues.password = option_with_default(configs.get, 'authentication', 'password')
+    optvalues.password = option_with_default(rawconfigs.get, 'authentication', 'password')
     optvalues.keyspace = option_with_default(configs.get, 'authentication', 'keyspace')
     optvalues.completekey = option_with_default(configs.get, 'ui', 'completekey',
                                                 DEFAULT_COMPLETEKEY)