diff --git a/context/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/context/StrictContextStorage.java b/context/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/context/StrictContextStorage.java
index aeed325c364..3c8fa72c2e5 100644
--- a/context/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/context/StrictContextStorage.java
+++ b/context/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/context/StrictContextStorage.java
@@ -252,6 +252,7 @@ static PendingScopes create() {
       thread.setName("weak-ref-cleaner-strictcontextstorage");
       thread.setPriority(Thread.MIN_PRIORITY);
       thread.setDaemon(true);
+      thread.setContextClassLoader(null);
       thread.start();
     }
 
diff --git a/sdk-extensions/incubator/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/extension/incubator/trace/LeakDetectingSpanProcessor.java b/sdk-extensions/incubator/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/extension/incubator/trace/LeakDetectingSpanProcessor.java
index 8fd7b68ce34..9adcba424da 100644
--- a/sdk-extensions/incubator/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/extension/incubator/trace/LeakDetectingSpanProcessor.java
+++ b/sdk-extensions/incubator/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/extension/incubator/trace/LeakDetectingSpanProcessor.java
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ private static PendingSpans create(BiConsumer<String, Throwable> reporter) {
       thread.setName("weak-ref-cleaner-leakingspandetector");
       thread.setPriority(Thread.MIN_PRIORITY);
       thread.setDaemon(true);
+      thread.setContextClassLoader(null);
       thread.start();
       return pendingSpans;
     }
diff --git a/sdk/common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/internal/DaemonThreadFactory.java b/sdk/common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/internal/DaemonThreadFactory.java
index e8f75abe40f..b09585663c4 100644
--- a/sdk/common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/internal/DaemonThreadFactory.java
+++ b/sdk/common/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/internal/DaemonThreadFactory.java
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ public Thread newThread(Runnable runnable) {
     try {
       t.setDaemon(true);
       t.setName(namePrefix + "-" + counter.incrementAndGet());
+      t.setContextClassLoader(null);
     } catch (SecurityException e) {
       // Well, we tried.
     }