diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/IsolatedClientLoader.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/IsolatedClientLoader.scala
index 567e4d7b411ec..f99c3ed2ae987 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/IsolatedClientLoader.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/IsolatedClientLoader.scala
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ import org.apache.commons.io.{FileUtils, IOUtils}
 
 import org.apache.spark.Logging
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmitUtils
-import org.apache.spark.util.Utils
+import org.apache.spark.util.{MutableURLClassLoader, Utils}
 
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.util.quietly
 import org.apache.spark.sql.hive.HiveContext
@@ -148,39 +148,51 @@ private[hive] class IsolatedClientLoader(
   protected def classToPath(name: String): String =
     name.replaceAll("\\.", "/") + ".class"
 
-  /** The classloader that is used to load an isolated version of Hive. */
-  private[hive] var classLoader: ClassLoader = if (isolationOn) {
-    new URLClassLoader(allJars, rootClassLoader) {
-      override def loadClass(name: String, resolve: Boolean): Class[_] = {
-        val loaded = findLoadedClass(name)
-        if (loaded == null) doLoadClass(name, resolve) else loaded
-      }
-      def doLoadClass(name: String, resolve: Boolean): Class[_] = {
-        val classFileName = name.replaceAll("\\.", "/") + ".class"
-        if (isBarrierClass(name)) {
-          // For barrier classes, we construct a new copy of the class.
-          val bytes = IOUtils.toByteArray(baseClassLoader.getResourceAsStream(classFileName))
-          logDebug(s"custom defining: $name - ${util.Arrays.hashCode(bytes)}")
-          defineClass(name, bytes, 0, bytes.length)
-        } else if (!isSharedClass(name)) {
-          logDebug(s"hive class: $name - ${getResource(classToPath(name))}")
-          super.loadClass(name, resolve)
-        } else {
-          // For shared classes, we delegate to baseClassLoader.
-          logDebug(s"shared class: $name")
-          baseClassLoader.loadClass(name)
+  /**
+   * The classloader that is used to load an isolated version of Hive.
+   * This classloader is a special URLClassLoader that exposes the addURL method.
+   * So, when we add jar, we can add this new jar directly through the addURL method
+   * instead of stacking a new URLClassLoader on top of it.
+   */
+  private[hive] val classLoader: MutableURLClassLoader = {
+    val isolatedClassLoader =
+      if (isolationOn) {
+        new URLClassLoader(allJars, rootClassLoader) {
+          override def loadClass(name: String, resolve: Boolean): Class[_] = {
+            val loaded = findLoadedClass(name)
+            if (loaded == null) doLoadClass(name, resolve) else loaded
+          }
+          def doLoadClass(name: String, resolve: Boolean): Class[_] = {
+            val classFileName = name.replaceAll("\\.", "/") + ".class"
+            if (isBarrierClass(name)) {
+              // For barrier classes, we construct a new copy of the class.
+              val bytes = IOUtils.toByteArray(baseClassLoader.getResourceAsStream(classFileName))
+              logDebug(s"custom defining: $name - ${util.Arrays.hashCode(bytes)}")
+              defineClass(name, bytes, 0, bytes.length)
+            } else if (!isSharedClass(name)) {
+              logDebug(s"hive class: $name - ${getResource(classToPath(name))}")
+              super.loadClass(name, resolve)
+            } else {
+              // For shared classes, we delegate to baseClassLoader.
+              logDebug(s"shared class: $name")
+              baseClassLoader.loadClass(name)
+            }
+          }
         }
+      } else {
+        baseClassLoader
       }
-    }
-  } else {
-    baseClassLoader
+    // Right now, we create a URLClassLoader that gives preference to isolatedClassLoader
+    // over its own URLs when it loads classes and resources.
+    // We may want to use ChildFirstURLClassLoader based on
+    // the configuration of spark.executor.userClassPathFirst, which gives preference
+    // to its own URLs over the parent class loader (see Executor's createClassLoader method).
+    new NonClosableMutableURLClassLoader(isolatedClassLoader)
   }
 
   private[hive] def addJar(path: String): Unit = synchronized {
     val jarURL = new java.io.File(path).toURI.toURL
-    // TODO: we should avoid of stacking classloaders (use a single URLClassLoader and add jars
-    // to that)
-    classLoader = new java.net.URLClassLoader(Array(jarURL), classLoader)
+    classLoader.addURL(jarURL)
   }
 
   /** The isolated client interface to Hive. */
@@ -221,3 +233,14 @@ private[hive] class IsolatedClientLoader(
    */
   private[hive] var cachedHive: Any = null
 }
+
+/**
+ * URL class loader that exposes the `addURL` and `getURLs` methods in URLClassLoader.
+ * This class loader cannot be closed (its `close` method is a no-op).
+ */
+private[sql] class NonClosableMutableURLClassLoader(
+    parent: ClassLoader)
+  extends MutableURLClassLoader(Array.empty, parent) {
+
+  override def close(): Unit = {}
+}