diff --git a/src/NetworkManagerUtils.c b/src/NetworkManagerUtils.c
index 1f6cda4f6..04ef2aa76 100644
--- a/src/NetworkManagerUtils.c
+++ b/src/NetworkManagerUtils.c
@@ -1061,6 +1061,74 @@ nm_match_spec_s390_subchannels (const GSList *specs, const char *subchannels)
 	return match;
 }
 
+GSList *
+nm_match_spec_split (const char *value)
+{
+	char *string_value, *p, *q0, *q;
+	GSList *pieces = NULL;
+
+	if (!value || !*value)
+		return NULL;
+
+	/* Copied from glibs g_key_file_parse_value_as_string() function
+	 * and adjusted. */
+
+	string_value = g_new (gchar, strlen (value) + 1);
+
+	p = (gchar *) value;
+	q0 = q = string_value;
+	while (*p) {
+		if (*p == '\\') {
+			p++;
+
+			switch (*p) {
+			case 's':
+				*q = ' ';
+				break;
+			case 'n':
+				*q = '\n';
+				break;
+			case 't':
+				*q = '\t';
+				break;
+			case 'r':
+				*q = '\r';
+				break;
+			case '\\':
+				*q = '\\';
+				break;
+			case '\0':
+				break;
+			default:
+				if (NM_IN_SET (*p, ',', ';'))
+					*q = *p;
+				else {
+					*q++ = '\\';
+					*q = *p;
+				}
+				break;
+			}
+		} else {
+			*q = *p;
+			if (NM_IN_SET (*p, ',', ';')) {
+				if (q0 < q)
+					pieces = g_slist_prepend (pieces, g_strndup (q0, q - q0));
+				q0 = q + 1;
+			}
+		}
+		if (*p == '\0')
+			break;
+		q++;
+		p++;
+	}
+
+	*q = '\0';
+	if (q0 < q)
+		pieces = g_slist_prepend (pieces, g_strndup (q0, q - q0));
+	g_free (string_value);
+	return g_slist_reverse (pieces);
+}
+
 const char *
 nm_utils_get_shared_wifi_permission (NMConnection *connection)
 {
diff --git a/src/NetworkManagerUtils.h b/src/NetworkManagerUtils.h
index de691f138..4d797fafe 100644
--- a/src/NetworkManagerUtils.h
+++ b/src/NetworkManagerUtils.h
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ typedef enum {
 NMMatchSpecMatchType nm_match_spec_hwaddr (const GSList *specs, const char *hwaddr);
 NMMatchSpecMatchType nm_match_spec_s390_subchannels (const GSList *specs, const char *subchannels);
 NMMatchSpecMatchType nm_match_spec_interface_name (const GSList *specs, const char *interface_name);
+GSList *nm_match_spec_split (const char *value);
 
 const char *nm_utils_get_shared_wifi_permission (NMConnection *connection);
 
diff --git a/src/tests/test-general.c b/src/tests/test-general.c
index b26b0e2ae..21533cc74 100644
--- a/src/tests/test-general.c
+++ b/src/tests/test-general.c
@@ -806,17 +806,13 @@ static void
 test_match_spec_ifname (const char *spec_str, const char **matches, const char **neg_matches)
 {
 	const char *m;
-	char **spec_str_split;
 	GSList *specs, *specs_reverse = NULL;
 	guint i;
 
 	g_assert (spec_str);
-	spec_str_split = g_strsplit_set (spec_str, ";,", -1);
-	for (i = 0; spec_str_split[i]; i++) {
-		if (spec_str_split[i])
-			specs_reverse = g_slist_prepend (specs_reverse, spec_str_split[i]);
-	}
-	specs = g_slist_reverse (g_slist_copy (specs_reverse));
+
+	specs = nm_match_spec_split (spec_str);
+	specs_reverse = g_slist_reverse (g_slist_copy (specs));
 
 	for (i = 0; matches && matches[i]; i++) {
 		g_assert (nm_match_spec_interface_name (specs, matches[i]) == NM_MATCH_SPEC_MATCH);
@@ -836,8 +832,7 @@ test_match_spec_ifname (const char *spec_str, const char **matches, const char *
 	}
 
 	g_slist_free (specs_reverse);
-	g_slist_free (specs);
-	g_strfreev (spec_str_split);
+	g_slist_free_full (specs, g_free);
 }
 
 static void
@@ -874,6 +869,18 @@ test_nm_match_spec_interface_name (void)
 	test_match_spec_ifname ("interface-name:em*,except:interface-name:=em*",
 	                        S ("em", "em\\", "em\\*", "em\\1", "em\\11", "em\\2", "em1", "em11", "em2", "em3"),
 	                        S ("em*"));
+	test_match_spec_ifname ("aa,bb,cc\\,dd,e,,",
+	                        S ("aa", "bb", "cc,dd", "e"),
+	                        NULL);
+	test_match_spec_ifname ("aa;bb;cc\\;dd;e,;",
+	                        S ("aa", "bb", "cc;dd", "e"),
+	                        NULL);
+	test_match_spec_ifname ("interface-name:em\\;1,em\\,2,\\,,\\\\,,em\\\\x",
+	                        S ("em;1", "em,2", ",", "\\", "em\\x"),
+	                        NULL);
+	test_match_spec_ifname ("  , interface-name:a, ,",
+	                        S ("  ", " ", " interface-name:a"),
+	                        NULL);
 #undef S
 }