diff --git a/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1-init.sh b/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1-init.sh
index 994aa0e33cbf..4596c160a957 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1-init.sh
+++ b/nixos/modules/system/boot/stage-1-init.sh
@@ -342,6 +342,14 @@ checkFS() {
     return 0
 }
 
+escapeFstab() {
+    local original="$1"
+
+    # Replace space
+    local escaped="${original// /\\040}"
+    # Replace tab
+    echo "${escaped//$'\t'/\\011}"
+}
 
 # Function for mounting a file system.
 mountFS() {
@@ -569,7 +577,7 @@ while read -u 3 mountPoint; do
         continue
     fi
 
-    mountFS "$device" "$mountPoint" "$options" "$fsType"
+    mountFS "$device" "$(escapeFstab "$mountPoint")" "$(escapeFstab "$options")" "$fsType"
 done
 
 exec 3>&-