diff --git a/bolt/core/QueryConfig.h b/bolt/core/QueryConfig.h
index db5566da4..3ffdfdbb1 100644
--- a/bolt/core/QueryConfig.h
+++ b/bolt/core/QueryConfig.h
@@ -744,6 +744,10 @@ class QueryConfig {
 
   static constexpr const char* kEnableSonicJsonToMap = "sonic.json_to_map";
 
+  /// Whether json_to_map escapes raw control chars and retries parse.
+  static constexpr const char* kJsonToMapEscapeControlChars =
+      "json_to_map_escape_control_chars";
+
   static constexpr const char* kEnableSonicIsJsonScalar =
       "sonic.is_json_scalar";
 
@@ -1683,6 +1687,10 @@ class QueryConfig {
     return get<bool>(kEnableSonicJsonToMap, true);
   }
 
+  bool jsonToMapEscapeControlChars() const {
+    return get<bool>(kJsonToMapEscapeControlChars, true);
+  }
+
   bool enableSonicIsJsonScalar() const {
     return get<bool>(kEnableSonicIsJsonScalar, true);
   }
diff --git a/bolt/functions/sparksql/JsonToMap.cpp b/bolt/functions/sparksql/JsonToMap.cpp
index 9a6e5f85f..706be7727 100644
--- a/bolt/functions/sparksql/JsonToMap.cpp
+++ b/bolt/functions/sparksql/JsonToMap.cpp
@@ -68,15 +68,17 @@ class JsonToMapFunction : public exec::VectorFunction {
       const TypePtr& outputType,
       exec::EvalCtx& context,
       VectorPtr& result) const override {
-    folly::call_once(initUseSonic_, [&] {
-      useSonic_ =
-          context.execCtx()->queryCtx()->queryConfig().enableSonicJsonParse();
-    });
+    const auto& queryConfig = context.execCtx()->queryCtx()->queryConfig();
+    folly::call_once(
+        initUseSonic_, [&] { useSonic_ = queryConfig.enableSonicJsonParse(); });
+
+    const auto escapeControlChars = queryConfig.jsonToMapEscapeControlChars();
 
     if (useSonic_) {
-      applySonic(rows, args, outputType, context, result);
+      applySonic(rows, args, outputType, escapeControlChars, context, result);
     } else {
-      applySimdJson(rows, args, outputType, context, result);
+      applySimdJson(
+          rows, args, outputType, escapeControlChars, context, result);
     }
   }
 
@@ -84,6 +86,7 @@ class JsonToMapFunction : public exec::VectorFunction {
       const SelectivityVector& rows,
       std::vector<VectorPtr>& args,
       const TypePtr& outputType,
+      bool escapeControlChars,
       exec::EvalCtx& context,
       VectorPtr& result) const {
     BaseVector::ensureWritable(
@@ -141,7 +144,7 @@ class JsonToMapFunction : public exec::VectorFunction {
 
         padded_data = current;
         bool ok = parseInto(padded_data);
-        if (!ok) {
+        if (!ok && escapeControlChars) {
           // On failure, escape raw control chars and retry (only the rare
           // failure path; valid JSON is unaffected).
           padded_data = escapeUnescapedControlChars(current);
@@ -166,6 +169,7 @@ class JsonToMapFunction : public exec::VectorFunction {
       const SelectivityVector& rows,
       std::vector<VectorPtr>& args,
       const TypePtr& outputType,
+      bool escapeControlChars,
       exec::EvalCtx& context,
       VectorPtr& result) const {
     BaseVector::ensureWritable(
@@ -191,7 +195,7 @@ class JsonToMapFunction : public exec::VectorFunction {
             kParseIntegerAsRaw | kParseOverflowNumAsNumStr;
         doc.Parse<kParseFlags>(current);
         std::string escaped;
-        if (doc.HasParseError()) {
+        if (doc.HasParseError() && escapeControlChars) {
           // On failure, escape raw control chars and retry (matching jsoniter);
           // `escaped` must outlive the member iteration below.
           escaped = escapeUnescapedControlChars(current);
diff --git a/bolt/functions/sparksql/tests/JsonToMapTest.cpp b/bolt/functions/sparksql/tests/JsonToMapTest.cpp
index 7bf0ab084..766e6d459 100644
--- a/bolt/functions/sparksql/tests/JsonToMapTest.cpp
+++ b/bolt/functions/sparksql/tests/JsonToMapTest.cpp
@@ -27,6 +27,13 @@ class JsonToMapTest : public SparkFunctionBaseTest {
         expr, makeRowVector({makeFlatVector<StringView>({inputs[0]})}));
   }
 
+  void setJsonToMapEscapeControlChars(bool escapeControlChars) {
+    auto config = queryCtx_->queryConfig().rawConfigsCopy();
+    config[core::QueryConfig::kJsonToMapEscapeControlChars] =
+        std::to_string(escapeControlChars);
+    queryCtx_->testingOverrideConfigUnsafe(std::move(config));
+  }
+
   void testJsonToMap(
       const std::vector<StringView>& inputs,
       const std::vector<std::pair<StringView, std::optional<StringView>>>&
@@ -147,6 +154,7 @@ TEST_F(JsonToMapTest, unescapedControlChars) {
   // escaped, but the reference Hive UDF (backed by com.jsoniter) accepts raw
   // control chars and keeps them verbatim in the values. json_to_map must
   // match that lenient behavior instead of returning SQL NULL.
+  setJsonToMapEscapeControlChars(true);
   {
     // Raw newlines embedded in several values; they must be preserved.
     StringView json =
@@ -178,6 +186,17 @@ TEST_F(JsonToMapTest, unescapedControlChars) {
   }
 }
 
+TEST_F(JsonToMapTest, unescapedControlCharsRetryConfig) {
+  const StringView json = StringView("{\"k\":\"a\nb\"}");
+  setJsonToMapEscapeControlChars(false);
+  auto result = evaluateJsonToMap({json});
+  auto expected = makeNullableMapVector<StringView, StringView>({std::nullopt});
+  assertEqualVectors(expected, result);
+
+  setJsonToMapEscapeControlChars(true);
+  testJsonToMap({json}, {{"k", StringView("a\nb")}});
+}
+
 TEST_F(JsonToMapTest, numericValuesPreserveOriginalText) {
   // Numeric values must be returned as their original JSON token, matching the
   // Hive reference UDF (com.jsoniter). They must NOT be round-tripped through a