diff --git a/native-maven-plugin/src/functionalTest/groovy/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/JavaApplicationFunctionalTest.groovy b/native-maven-plugin/src/functionalTest/groovy/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/JavaApplicationFunctionalTest.groovy
index 2b8aa6280..88b943bf2 100644
--- a/native-maven-plugin/src/functionalTest/groovy/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/JavaApplicationFunctionalTest.groovy
+++ b/native-maven-plugin/src/functionalTest/groovy/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/JavaApplicationFunctionalTest.groovy
@@ -131,4 +131,16 @@ class JavaApplicationFunctionalTest extends AbstractGraalVMMavenFunctionalTest {
         file("target/").listFiles().findAll(x->x.name.contains("native-image") && x.name.endsWith(".args")).size() == 1
     }
 
+    def "can handle spaces when writing the args file"() {
+        withSpacesInProjectDir()
+        withSample("java-application")
+
+        when:
+        mvn '-DquickBuild', '-Pnative', 'native:write-args-file'
+
+        then:
+        buildSucceeded
+        outputContains "Args file written to: target" + File.separator + "native-image"
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/native-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/AbstractNativeImageMojo.java b/native-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/AbstractNativeImageMojo.java
index fa5e563bd..35a09382b 100644
--- a/native-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/AbstractNativeImageMojo.java
+++ b/native-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/AbstractNativeImageMojo.java
@@ -242,9 +242,7 @@ protected List<String> getBuildArgs() throws MojoExecutionException {
         }
 
         if (buildArgs != null && !buildArgs.isEmpty()) {
-            for (String buildArg : buildArgs) {
-                cliArgs.addAll(Arrays.asList(buildArg.split("\\s+")));
-            }
+            cliArgs.addAll(processBuildArgs(buildArgs));
         }
 
         List<String> actualCliArgs;
@@ -262,6 +260,18 @@ protected List<String> getBuildArgs() throws MojoExecutionException {
         return Collections.unmodifiableList(actualCliArgs);
     }
 
+    static List<String> processBuildArgs(List<String> buildArgs) {
+        var result = new ArrayList<String>();
+        for (String buildArg : buildArgs) {
+            if(buildArg.startsWith("\\Q") || buildArg.startsWith("-H:ConfigurationFileDirectories")) {
+                result.add(buildArg);
+            } else {
+                result.addAll(Arrays.asList(buildArg.split("\\s+", 2)));
+            }
+        }
+        return result;
+    }
+
     protected Path processSupportedArtifacts(Artifact artifact) throws MojoExecutionException {
         return processArtifact(artifact, "jar", "test-jar", "war");
     }
diff --git a/native-maven-plugin/src/test/groovy/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/AbstractNativeImageMojoTest.groovy b/native-maven-plugin/src/test/groovy/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/AbstractNativeImageMojoTest.groovy
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dc2df79ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/native-maven-plugin/src/test/groovy/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/AbstractNativeImageMojoTest.groovy
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+package org.graalvm.buildtools.maven
+
+import spock.lang.Specification
+
+class AbstractNativeImageMojoTest extends Specification {
+
+    void "it can process build args"() {
+        given:
+        def buildArgs = [
+                "--exclude-config",
+                "\\QC:\\Users\\Lahoucine EL ADDALI\\.m2\\repository\\io\\netty\\netty-transport\\4.1.108.Final\\netty-transport-4.1.108.Final.jar\\E",
+                "^/META-INF/native-image/",
+                "-cp C:\\Users\\Lahoucine EL ADDALI\\Desktop\\outdir\\target/java-application-with-custom-packaging-0.1.jar",
+                "-H:ConfigurationFileDirectories=C:\\Users\\Lahoucine EL ADDALI\\Downloads\\4.5.0.0_kubernetes_kubernetes-demo-java-maven\\api\\target\\native\\generated\\generateResourceConfig"
+        ]
+
+        when:
+        def processedArgs = AbstractNativeImageMojo.processBuildArgs(buildArgs)
+
+        then:
+        processedArgs == [
+                "--exclude-config",
+                "\\QC:\\Users\\Lahoucine EL ADDALI\\.m2\\repository\\io\\netty\\netty-transport\\4.1.108.Final\\netty-transport-4.1.108.Final.jar\\E",
+                "^/META-INF/native-image/",
+                "-cp",
+                "C:\\Users\\Lahoucine EL ADDALI\\Desktop\\outdir\\target/java-application-with-custom-packaging-0.1.jar",
+                "-H:ConfigurationFileDirectories=C:\\Users\\Lahoucine EL ADDALI\\Downloads\\4.5.0.0_kubernetes_kubernetes-demo-java-maven\\api\\target\\native\\generated\\generateResourceConfig"
+        ]
+    }
+}
diff --git a/native-maven-plugin/src/testFixtures/groovy/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/AbstractGraalVMMavenFunctionalTest.groovy b/native-maven-plugin/src/testFixtures/groovy/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/AbstractGraalVMMavenFunctionalTest.groovy
index 00c593bc6..a02de1d93 100644
--- a/native-maven-plugin/src/testFixtures/groovy/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/AbstractGraalVMMavenFunctionalTest.groovy
+++ b/native-maven-plugin/src/testFixtures/groovy/org/graalvm/buildtools/maven/AbstractGraalVMMavenFunctionalTest.groovy
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ package org.graalvm.buildtools.maven
 
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.ServerConnector
-import org.eclipse.jetty.server.SymlinkAllowedResourceAliasChecker
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ContextHandler
 import org.eclipse.jetty.server.handler.ResourceHandler
 import spock.lang.Specification
@@ -57,7 +56,7 @@ abstract class AbstractGraalVMMavenFunctionalTest extends Specification {
     @TempDir
     Path testDirectory
 
-    Path testOrigin;
+    Path testOrigin
 
     private IsolatedMavenExecutor executor
 
@@ -66,9 +65,9 @@ abstract class AbstractGraalVMMavenFunctionalTest extends Specification {
     Server server
     ServerConnector connector
 
-    boolean IS_WINDOWS = System.getProperty("os.name", "unknown").contains("Windows");
-    boolean IS_LINUX = System.getProperty("os.name", "unknown").contains("Linux");
-    boolean IS_MAC = System.getProperty("os.name", "unknown").contains("Mac");
+    boolean IS_WINDOWS = System.getProperty("os.name", "unknown").contains("Windows")
+    boolean IS_LINUX = System.getProperty("os.name", "unknown").contains("Linux")
+    boolean IS_MAC = System.getProperty("os.name", "unknown").contains("Mac")
 
     def setup() {
         executor = new IsolatedMavenExecutor(
@@ -154,12 +153,13 @@ abstract class AbstractGraalVMMavenFunctionalTest extends Specification {
     }
 
     void mvn(List<String> args, Map<String, String> systemProperties) {
-        System.out.println("Running copy of maven project `" + testOrigin + "` with " + args);
+        println("Running copy of maven project ${testOrigin} in ${testDirectory}  with $args")
         var resultingSystemProperties = [
                 "common.repo.uri": System.getProperty("common.repo.uri"),
                 "seed.repo.uri": System.getProperty("seed.repo.uri"),
                 "maven.repo.local": testDirectory.resolve("local-repo").toFile().absolutePath
         ]
+        println "Using local repo: ${resultingSystemProperties['maven.repo.local']}"
         resultingSystemProperties.putAll(systemProperties)
 
         result = executor.execute(
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ abstract class AbstractGraalVMMavenFunctionalTest extends Specification {
                  *args],
                 new File(System.getProperty("maven.settings"))
         )
-        System.out.println("Exit code is ${result.exitCode}")
+        println "Exit code is ${result.exitCode}"
 
     }