diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/Utils.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/Utils.scala
index 996af86bf5b2c..4c7160cc9b82b 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/Utils.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/util/Utils.scala
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.{CompressionCodecFactory, SplittableCompres
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.UserGroupInformation
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.{RunJar, StringUtils}
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.conf.YarnConfiguration
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.{Level, LogManager}
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.core.LoggerContext
 import org.eclipse.jetty.util.MultiException
 import org.slf4j.Logger
 
@@ -2423,11 +2425,13 @@ private[spark] object Utils extends Logging {
   /**
    * configure a new log4j level
    */
-  def setLogLevel(l: org.apache.logging.log4j.Level): Unit = {
-    val rootLogger = org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager.getRootLogger()
-      .asInstanceOf[org.apache.logging.log4j.core.Logger]
-    rootLogger.setLevel(l)
-    rootLogger.get().setLevel(l)
+  def setLogLevel(l: Level): Unit = {
+    val ctx = LogManager.getContext(false).asInstanceOf[LoggerContext]
+    val config = ctx.getConfiguration()
+    val loggerConfig = config.getLoggerConfig(LogManager.ROOT_LOGGER_NAME)
+    loggerConfig.setLevel(l)
+    ctx.updateLoggers()
+
     // Setting threshold to null as rootLevel will define log level for spark-shell
     Logging.sparkShellThresholdLevel = null
   }
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/UtilsSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/UtilsSuite.scala
index 3c5f50082adb8..bfb1bc3f029c9 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/UtilsSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/util/UtilsSuite.scala
@@ -690,8 +690,11 @@ class UtilsSuite extends SparkFunSuite with ResetSystemProperties with Logging {
     try {
       Utils.setLogLevel(org.apache.logging.log4j.Level.ALL)
       assert(rootLogger.getLevel == org.apache.logging.log4j.Level.ALL)
+      assert(log.isInfoEnabled())
       Utils.setLogLevel(org.apache.logging.log4j.Level.ERROR)
       assert(rootLogger.getLevel == org.apache.logging.log4j.Level.ERROR)
+      assert(!log.isInfoEnabled())
+      assert(log.isErrorEnabled())
     } finally {
       // Best effort at undoing changes this test made.
       Utils.setLogLevel(current)