diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryRelation.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryRelation.scala
index 9f65897d5158e..b48493e4ff027 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryRelation.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryRelation.scala
@@ -389,7 +389,17 @@ case class InMemoryRelation(
 
   @volatile var statsOfPlanToCache: Statistics = null
 
-  override def innerChildren: Seq[SparkPlan] = Seq(cachedPlan)
+
+  override lazy val innerChildren: Seq[SparkPlan] = {
+    // The cachedPlan needs to be cloned here because it does not get cloned when SparkPlan.clone is
+    // called. This is a problem because when the explain output is generated for
+    // a plan it traverses the innerChildren and modifies their TreeNode.tags. If the plan is not
+    // cloned, there is a thread safety issue in the case that two plans with a shared cache
+    // operator have explain called at the same time. The cachedPlan cannot be cloned because
+    // it contains stateful information so we only clone it for the purpose of generating the
+    // explain output.
+    Seq(cachedPlan.clone())
+  }
 
   override def doCanonicalize(): logical.LogicalPlan =
     copy(output = output.map(QueryPlan.normalizeExpressions(_, cachedPlan.output)),
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryRelationSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryRelationSuite.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..72b3a4bc1095a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryRelationSuite.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/*
+ * 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.sql.execution.columnar
+
+import org.apache.spark.SparkFunSuite
+import org.apache.spark.sql.test.SharedSparkSessionBase
+import org.apache.spark.storage.StorageLevel
+
+class InMemoryRelationSuite extends SparkFunSuite with SharedSparkSessionBase {
+  test("SPARK-43157: Clone innerChildren cached plan") {
+    val d = spark.range(1)
+    val relation = InMemoryRelation(StorageLevel.MEMORY_ONLY, d.queryExecution, None)
+    val cloned = relation.clone().asInstanceOf[InMemoryRelation]
+
+    val relationCachedPlan = relation.innerChildren.head
+    val clonedCachedPlan = cloned.innerChildren.head
+
+    // verify the plans are not the same object but are logically equivalent
+    assert(!relationCachedPlan.eq(clonedCachedPlan))
+    assert(relationCachedPlan === clonedCachedPlan)
+  }
+}