diff --git a/src/com/mirantis/mk/Salt.groovy b/src/com/mirantis/mk/Salt.groovy
index 34c5d56..b67332b 100644
--- a/src/com/mirantis/mk/Salt.groovy
+++ b/src/com/mirantis/mk/Salt.groovy
@@ -678,7 +678,7 @@
         writeFile file: pepperCmdFile, text: dataStr
         pepperCmd = "pepper -c ${venv}/pepperrc --make-token -x ${venv}/.peppercache --json-file ${pepperCmdFile}"
     } else {
-        pepperCmd = "pepper -c ${venv}/pepperrc --make-token -x ${venv}/.peppercache --json \\\"" + dataStr + "\\\""
+        pepperCmd = "pepper -c ${venv}/pepperrc --make-token -x ${venv}/.peppercache --json \\\"" + dataStr.replaceAll('"', '\\\\\\\\\\\\\"') + "\\\"" // yeah, really 13 backslashes, don't ask why
     }
 
     if (venv) {