diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2411.section.md b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2411.section.md
index 6f2dd011eaf0..bce2805f74d4 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2411.section.md
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2411.section.md
@@ -569,6 +569,8 @@
 
 - `restic` module now has an option for inhibiting system sleep while backups are running, defaulting to off (not inhibiting sleep), available as [`services.restic.backups.<name>.inhibitsSleep`](#opt-services.restic.backups._name_.inhibitsSleep).
 
+- The arguments from [](#opt-services.postgresql.initdbArgs) now get shell-escaped.
+
 - Support for *runner registration tokens* has been [deprecated](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/380872)
   in `gitlab-runner` 15.6 and is expected to be removed in `gitlab-runner` 18.0. Configuration of existing runners
   should be changed to using *runner authentication tokens* by configuring
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.md b/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.md
index 0de1d82b4f03..5108f040e968 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.md
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.md
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ $ nix-instantiate --eval -A postgresql_13.psqlSchema
 ```
 For an upgrade, a script like this can be used to simplify the process:
 ```nix
-{ config, pkgs, ... }:
+{ config, lib, pkgs, ... }:
 {
   environment.systemPackages = [
     (let
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ For an upgrade, a script like this can be used to simplify the process:
 
       install -d -m 0700 -o postgres -g postgres "$NEWDATA"
       cd "$NEWDATA"
-      sudo -u postgres $NEWBIN/initdb -D "$NEWDATA" ${builtins.concatStringsSep " " cfg.initdbArgs}
+      sudo -u postgres $NEWBIN/initdb -D "$NEWDATA" ${lib.escapeShellArgs cfg.initdbArgs}
 
       sudo -u postgres $NEWBIN/pg_upgrade \
         --old-datadir "$OLDDATA" --new-datadir "$NEWDATA" \
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix b/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix
index 55b3dd282ec4..ceaccde813a0 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/databases/postgresql.nix
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ let
     concatStringsSep
     const
     elem
+    escapeShellArgs
     filterAttrs
     isString
     literalExpression
@@ -545,7 +546,7 @@ in
               rm -f ${cfg.dataDir}/*.conf
 
               # Initialise the database.
-              initdb -U ${cfg.superUser} ${concatStringsSep " " cfg.initdbArgs}
+              initdb -U ${cfg.superUser} ${escapeShellArgs cfg.initdbArgs}
 
               # See postStart!
               touch "${cfg.dataDir}/.first_startup"