diff --git a/bin/bookkeeper b/bin/bookkeeper
index 2290960c56690..7d122e26cd07e 100755
--- a/bin/bookkeeper
+++ b/bin/bookkeeper
@@ -163,6 +163,9 @@ BOOKIE_CLASSPATH="$BOOKIE_JAR:$BOOKIE_CLASSPATH:$BOOKIE_EXTRA_CLASSPATH"
 BOOKIE_CLASSPATH="`dirname $BOOKIE_LOG_CONF`:$BOOKIE_CLASSPATH"
 OPTS="$OPTS -Dlog4j.configurationFile=`basename $BOOKIE_LOG_CONF`"
 
+# Allow Netty to use reflection access
+OPTS="$OPTS -Dio.netty.tryReflectionSetAccessible=true"
+
 OPTS="-cp $BOOKIE_CLASSPATH $OPTS"
 
 OPTS="$OPTS $BOOKIE_EXTRA_OPTS"
diff --git a/bin/function-localrunner b/bin/function-localrunner
index da5387d333d75..a1f81c43b4457 100755
--- a/bin/function-localrunner
+++ b/bin/function-localrunner
@@ -86,6 +86,9 @@ PULSAR_CLASSPATH="$PULSAR_JAR:$PULSAR_CLASSPATH:$PULSAR_EXTRA_CLASSPATH"
 PULSAR_CLASSPATH="`dirname $PULSAR_LOG_CONF`:$PULSAR_CLASSPATH"
 OPTS="$OPTS -Dlog4j.configurationFile=`basename $PULSAR_LOG_CONF`"
 
+# Allow Netty to use reflection access
+OPTS="$OPTS -Dio.netty.tryReflectionSetAccessible=true"
+
 # Ensure we can read bigger content from ZK. (It might be
 # rarely needed when trying to list many z-nodes under a
 # directory)
diff --git a/bin/pulsar b/bin/pulsar
index 3821594d5d5ed..a6453a63abfa5 100755
--- a/bin/pulsar
+++ b/bin/pulsar
@@ -276,6 +276,9 @@ OPTS="$OPTS -Dlog4j.configurationFile=`basename $PULSAR_LOG_CONF`"
 # directory)
 OPTS="$OPTS -Djute.maxbuffer=10485760 -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true"
 
+# Allow Netty to use reflection access
+OPTS="$OPTS -Dio.netty.tryReflectionSetAccessible=true"
+
 OPTS="-cp $PULSAR_CLASSPATH $OPTS"
 
 if [ $COMMAND == "bookie" ]; then
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index bac6b73640eed..9df01ec9dd06e 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -1315,6 +1315,7 @@ flexible messaging model and an intuitive client API.</description>
             -Dpulsar.allocator.pooled=false
             -Dpulsar.allocator.leak_detection=Advanced
             -Dpulsar.allocator.exit_on_oom=false
+            -Dio.netty.tryReflectionSetAccessible=true
             ${test.additional.args}
           </argLine>
           <reuseForks>${testReuseFork}</reuseForks>