diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/JsonProtocol.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/JsonProtocol.scala
index 50c6461373dee..0e613ce958f4d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/JsonProtocol.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/JsonProtocol.scala
@@ -326,12 +326,22 @@ private[spark] object JsonProtocol {
         case v: Long => JInt(v)
         // We only have 3 kind of internal accumulator types, so if it's not int or long, it must be
         // the blocks accumulator, whose type is `java.util.List[(BlockId, BlockStatus)]`
-        case v =>
-          JArray(v.asInstanceOf[java.util.List[(BlockId, BlockStatus)]].asScala.toList.map {
-            case (id, status) =>
-              ("Block ID" -> id.toString) ~
-              ("Status" -> blockStatusToJson(status))
+        case v: java.util.List[_] =>
+          JArray(v.asScala.toList.flatMap {
+            case (id: BlockId, status: BlockStatus) =>
+              Some(
+                ("Block ID" -> id.toString) ~
+                ("Status" -> blockStatusToJson(status))
+              )
+            case _ =>
+              // Ignore unsupported types. A user may put `METRICS_PREFIX` in the name. We should
+              // not crash.
+              None
           })
+        case _ =>
+          // Ignore unsupported types. A user may put `METRICS_PREFIX` in the name. We should not
+          // crash.
+          JNothing
       }
     } else {
       // For all external accumulators, just use strings
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/JsonProtocolSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/JsonProtocolSuite.scala
index 74b72d940eeef..40fb2e3497033 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/JsonProtocolSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/JsonProtocolSuite.scala
@@ -436,6 +436,53 @@ class JsonProtocolSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
     testAccumValue(Some("anything"), 123, JString("123"))
   }
 
+  /** Create an AccumulableInfo and verify we can serialize and deserialize it. */
+  private def testAccumulableInfo(
+      name: String,
+      value: Option[Any],
+      expectedValue: Option[Any]): Unit = {
+    val isInternal = name.startsWith(InternalAccumulator.METRICS_PREFIX)
+    val accum = AccumulableInfo(
+      123L,
+      Some(name),
+      update = value,
+      value = value,
+      internal = isInternal,
+      countFailedValues = false)
+    val json = JsonProtocol.accumulableInfoToJson(accum)
+    val newAccum = JsonProtocol.accumulableInfoFromJson(json)
+    assert(newAccum == accum.copy(update = expectedValue, value = expectedValue))
+  }
+
+  test("SPARK-31923: unexpected value type of internal accumulator") {
+    // Because a user may use `METRICS_PREFIX` in an accumulator name, we should test unexpected
+    // types to make sure we don't crash.
+    import InternalAccumulator.METRICS_PREFIX
+    testAccumulableInfo(
+      METRICS_PREFIX + "fooString",
+      value = Some("foo"),
+      expectedValue = None)
+    testAccumulableInfo(
+      METRICS_PREFIX + "fooList",
+      value = Some(java.util.Arrays.asList("string")),
+      expectedValue = Some(java.util.Collections.emptyList())
+    )
+    val blocks = Seq(
+      (TestBlockId("block1"), BlockStatus(StorageLevel.MEMORY_ONLY, 1L, 2L)),
+      (TestBlockId("block2"), BlockStatus(StorageLevel.DISK_ONLY, 3L, 4L)))
+    testAccumulableInfo(
+      METRICS_PREFIX + "fooList",
+      value = Some(java.util.Arrays.asList(
+        "string",
+        blocks(0),
+        blocks(1))),
+      expectedValue = Some(blocks.asJava)
+    )
+    testAccumulableInfo(
+      METRICS_PREFIX + "fooSet",
+      value = Some(Set("foo")),
+      expectedValue = None)
+  }
 }