diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/ExecutorPlugin.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/ExecutorPlugin.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7e99ef844d5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/ExecutorPlugin.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.spark;
+
+import org.apache.spark.annotation.DeveloperApi;
+
+/**
+ * A plugin which can be automaticaly instantiated within each Spark executor.  Users can specify
+ * plugins which should be created with the "spark.executor.plugins" configuration.  An instance
+ * of each plugin will be created for every executor, including those created by dynamic allocation,
+ * before the executor starts running any tasks.
+ *
+ * The specific api exposed to the end users still considered to be very unstable.  We will
+ * *hopefully* be able to keep compatability by providing default implementations for any methods
+ * added, but make no guarantees this will always be possible across all spark releases.
+ *
+ * Spark does nothing to verify the plugin is doing legitimate things, or to manage the resources
+ * it uses.  A plugin acquires the same privileges as the user running the task.  A bad plugin
+ * could also intefere with task execution and make the executor fail in unexpected ways.
+ */
+@DeveloperApi
+public interface ExecutorPlugin {
+}
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/Executor.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/Executor.scala
index b1856ff0f324..a66712417f4b 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/Executor.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/executor/Executor.scala
@@ -130,6 +130,12 @@ private[spark] class Executor(
   private val urlClassLoader = createClassLoader()
   private val replClassLoader = addReplClassLoaderIfNeeded(urlClassLoader)
 
+  Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(replClassLoader)
+  conf.get(EXECUTOR_PLUGINS).foreach { classes =>
+    Utils.loadExtensions(classOf[ExecutorPlugin], classes, conf)
+  }
+
+
   // Set the classloader for serializer
   env.serializer.setDefaultClassLoader(replClassLoader)
   // SPARK-21928.  SerializerManager's internal instance of Kryo might get used in netty threads
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala
index 8fef2aa6863c..add2b0c7eaa2 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/internal/config/package.scala
@@ -567,4 +567,15 @@ package object config {
       .intConf
       .checkValue(v => v > 0, "The value should be a positive integer.")
       .createWithDefault(2000)
+
+  private[spark] val EXECUTOR_PLUGINS =
+    ConfigBuilder("spark.executor.plugins")
+      .internal()
+      .doc("Comma-separated list of class names for \"plugins\" implementing " +
+        "org.apache.spark.ExecutorPlugin.  Plugins have the same privileges as any task " +
+        "in a spark executor.  They can also interfere with task execution and fail in " +
+        "unexpected ways.  So be sure to only use this for trusted plugins.")
+      .stringConf
+      .toSequence
+      .createOptional
 }