diff --git a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/util/DefFile.kt b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/util/DefFile.kt
index 132832d332c..3cd3ca0f976 100644
--- a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/util/DefFile.kt
+++ b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/util/DefFile.kt
@@ -114,9 +114,8 @@ class DefFile(val file:File?, val config:DefFileConfig, val manifestAddendProper
     }
 }
 
-private fun Properties.getSpaceSeparated(name: String): List<String> {
-    return this.getProperty(name)?.split(' ')?.filter { it.isNotEmpty() } ?: emptyList()
-}
+private fun Properties.getSpaceSeparated(name: String): List<String> =
+        this.getProperty(name)?.let { parseSpaceSeparatedArgs(it) } ?: emptyList()
 
 private fun parseDefFile(file: File?, substitutions: Map<String, String>): Triple<Properties, Properties, List<String>> {
      val properties = Properties()
@@ -141,11 +140,21 @@ private fun parseDefFile(file: File?, substitutions: Map<String, String>): Tripl
          headerLines = emptyList()
      }
 
-     val propertiesReader = StringReader(propertyLines.joinToString(System.lineSeparator()))
+     // \ isn't escaping character in quotes, so replace them with \\.
+     val joinedLines = propertyLines.joinToString(System.lineSeparator())
+     val escapedTokens = joinedLines.split('"')
+     val postprocessProperties = escapedTokens.mapIndexed { index, token ->
+         if (index % 2 != 0) {
+             token.replace("""\\(?=.)""".toRegex(), Regex.escapeReplacement("""\\"""))
+         } else {
+             token
+         }
+     }.joinToString("\"")
+     val propertiesReader = StringReader(postprocessProperties)
      properties.load(propertiesReader)
 
      // Pass unsubstituted copy of properties we have obtained from `.def`
-     // to compiler `-maniest`.
+     // to compiler `-manifest`.
      val manifestAddendProperties = properties.duplicate()
 
      substitute(properties, substitutions)
diff --git a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/util/Util.kt b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/util/Util.kt
index d3f8d6bab50..c3d3a7950d2 100644
--- a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/util/Util.kt
+++ b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/konan/util/Util.kt
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package org.jetbrains.kotlin.konan.util
 
 import kotlin.system.measureTimeMillis
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.konan.file.*
+import java.lang.StringBuilder
 
 // FIXME(ddol): KLIB-REFACTORING-CLEANUP: remove this function:
 fun <T> printMillisec(message: String, body: () -> T): T {
@@ -59,3 +60,34 @@ fun String.removeSuffixIfPresent(suffix: String) =
     if (this.endsWith(suffix)) this.dropLast(suffix.length) else this
 
 fun <T> Lazy<T>.getValueOrNull(): T? = if (isInitialized()) value else null
+
+fun parseSpaceSeparatedArgs(argsString: String): List<String> {
+    val parsedArgs = mutableListOf<String>()
+    var inQuotes = false
+    var currentCharSequence = StringBuilder()
+    fun saveArg() {
+        if (!currentCharSequence.isEmpty()) {
+            parsedArgs.add(currentCharSequence.toString())
+            currentCharSequence = StringBuilder()
+        }
+    }
+    argsString.forEach { char ->
+        if (char == '"') {
+            inQuotes = !inQuotes
+            // Save value which was in quotes.
+            if (!inQuotes) {
+                saveArg()
+            }
+        } else if (char == ' ' && !inQuotes) {
+            // Space is separator.
+            saveArg()
+        } else {
+            currentCharSequence.append(char)
+        }
+    }
+    if (inQuotes) {
+        error("No close-quote was found in $currentCharSequence.")
+    }
+    saveArg()
+    return parsedArgs
+}
\ No newline at end of file