diff --git a/clients/common/nm-meta-setting-desc.c b/clients/common/nm-meta-setting-desc.c
index 664d596733..1009908ba4 100644
--- a/clients/common/nm-meta-setting-desc.c
+++ b/clients/common/nm-meta-setting-desc.c
@@ -3229,7 +3229,7 @@ _set_fcn_match_interface_name (ARGS_SET_FCN)
 	if (strv) {
 		for (i = 0; strv[i]; i++) {
 			nm_setting_match_add_interface_name (NM_SETTING_MATCH (setting),
-			                                     _nm_utils_unescape_spaces ((char *) strv[i]));
+			                                     _nm_utils_unescape_spaces ((char *) strv[i], TRUE));
 		}
 	}
 	return TRUE;
diff --git a/libnm-core/tests/test-general.c b/libnm-core/tests/test-general.c
index 9fcf7d006c..876e48388a 100644
--- a/libnm-core/tests/test-general.c
+++ b/libnm-core/tests/test-general.c
@@ -7733,24 +7733,73 @@ test_nm_utils_escape_spaces (void)
 	g_free (to_free);
 }
 
+static void
+_do_test_unescape_spaces (const char *in, const char *out)
+{
+	nm_auto_free_gstring GString *str_out = g_string_new (NULL);
+	nm_auto_free_gstring GString *str_in = g_string_new (NULL);
+	guint i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
+
+		g_string_set_size (str_in, 0);
+
+		g_string_append (str_in, in);
+
+		if (i == 0)
+			g_assert_cmpstr (_nm_utils_unescape_spaces (str_in->str, FALSE), ==, out);
+		else if (i == 1)
+			g_assert_cmpstr (_nm_utils_unescape_spaces (str_in->str, TRUE), ==, out);
+		else {
+			bool do_strip = nmtst_get_rand_bool ();
+			guint n = nmtst_get_rand_int () % 20;
+			guint j;
+
+			g_string_set_size (str_out, 0);
+			if (!do_strip)
+				g_string_append (str_out, out);
+
+			for (j = 0; j < n; j++) {
+				gboolean append = nmtst_get_rand_bool ();
+				char ch = nmtst_rand_select (' ', '\t');
+
+				if (append && out[strlen (out) - 1] == '\\')
+					append = FALSE;
+
+				g_string_insert_c (str_in, append ? -1 : 0, ch);
+				if (!do_strip)
+					g_string_insert_c (str_out, append ? -1 : 0, ch);
+			}
+
+			if (do_strip)
+				g_assert_cmpstr (_nm_utils_unescape_spaces (str_in->str, TRUE), ==, out);
+			else
+				g_assert_cmpstr (_nm_utils_unescape_spaces (str_in->str, FALSE), ==, str_out->str);
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 static void
 test_nm_utils_unescape_spaces (void)
 {
-#define CHECK_STR(in, out) \
-	G_STMT_START { \
-		gs_free char *str = g_strdup (in); \
-		\
-		g_assert_cmpstr (_nm_utils_unescape_spaces (str), ==, out); \
-	} G_STMT_END
-
-	CHECK_STR ("\\a", "\\a");
-	CHECK_STR ("foobar", "foobar");
-	CHECK_STR ("foo bar", "foo bar");
-	CHECK_STR ("foo\\ bar", "foo bar");
-	CHECK_STR ("foo\\", "foo\\");
-	CHECK_STR ("\\\\\t", "\\\t");
-
-#undef CHECK_STR
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("", "");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("\\", "\\");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("\\ ", " ");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("\\\t", "\t");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("a", "a");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("\\a", "\\a");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("foobar", "foobar");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("foo bar", "foo bar");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("foo\\ bar", "foo bar");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("foo\\", "foo\\");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("\\\\", "\\\\");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("foo   bar", "foo   bar");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("\\ foo   bar", " foo   bar");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("\\ foo   bar\\ ", " foo   bar ");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("\\\tfoo   bar\\\t", "\tfoo   bar\t");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("\\\tfoo   bar  \\\t", "\tfoo   bar  \t");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("\\\t", "\t");
+	_do_test_unescape_spaces ("\\\t \\ ", "\t  ");
 }
 
 /*****************************************************************************/
diff --git a/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.c b/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.c
index ae6262143c..7789034de5 100644
--- a/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.c
+++ b/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.c
@@ -2458,20 +2458,36 @@ _nm_utils_escape_spaces (const char *str, char **to_free)
 }
 
 char *
-_nm_utils_unescape_spaces (char *str)
+_nm_utils_unescape_spaces (char *str, gboolean do_strip)
 {
-	guint i, j = 0;
+	gsize i = 0;
+	gsize j = 0;
+	gsize preserve_space_at = 0;
 
 	if (!str)
 		return NULL;
 
-	for (i = 0; str[i]; i++) {
-		if (str[i] == '\\' && IS_SPACE (str[i+1]))
+	if (do_strip) {
+		while (str[i] && IS_SPACE (str[i]))
 			i++;
+	}
+
+	for (; str[i]; i++) {
+		if (   str[i] == '\\'
+		    && IS_SPACE (str[i+1])) {
+			preserve_space_at = j;
+			i++;
+		}
 		str[j++] = str[i];
 	}
 	str[j] = '\0';
 
+	if (do_strip && j > 0) {
+		while (   --j > preserve_space_at
+		       && IS_SPACE (str[j]))
+			str[j] = '\0';
+	}
+
 	return str;
 }
 
diff --git a/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.h b/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.h
index 51e57ee03f..6ed1bc574e 100644
--- a/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.h
+++ b/shared/nm-utils/nm-shared-utils.h
@@ -1085,7 +1085,7 @@ void _nm_utils_user_data_unpack (gpointer user_data, int nargs, ...);
 /*****************************************************************************/
 
 const char *_nm_utils_escape_spaces (const char *str, char **to_free);
-char *_nm_utils_unescape_spaces (char *str);
+char *_nm_utils_unescape_spaces (char *str, gboolean do_strip);
 
 /*****************************************************************************/
 
diff --git a/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/nms-ifcfg-rh-reader.c b/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/nms-ifcfg-rh-reader.c
index 03d2cb6330..7779319b7f 100644
--- a/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/nms-ifcfg-rh-reader.c
+++ b/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/nms-ifcfg-rh-reader.c
@@ -1449,7 +1449,7 @@ make_match_setting (shvarFile *ifcfg)
 			if (!s_match)
 				s_match = (NMSettingMatch *) nm_setting_match_new ();
 			nm_setting_match_add_interface_name (s_match,
-			                                     _nm_utils_unescape_spaces ((char *) strv[i]));
+			                                     _nm_utils_unescape_spaces ((char *) strv[i], TRUE));
 		}
 	}