diff --git a/cloudinit/distros/parsers/sys_conf.py b/cloudinit/distros/parsers/sys_conf.py
index cb6e583e789..1d519ce4ef7 100644
--- a/cloudinit/distros/parsers/sys_conf.py
+++ b/cloudinit/distros/parsers/sys_conf.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 #
 # This file is part of cloud-init. See LICENSE file for license information.
 
-import pipes
 import re
+import shlex
 from io import StringIO
 
 # This library is used to parse/write
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ def _quote(self, value, multiline=False):
                 if re.search(r"[\t\r\n ]", value):
                     if _contains_shell_variable(value):
                         # If it contains shell variables then we likely want to
-                        # leave it alone since the pipes.quote function likes
+                        # leave it alone since the shlex.quote function likes
                         # to use single quotes which won't get expanded...
                         if re.search(r"[\n\"']", value):
                             quot_func = (
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ def _quote(self, value, multiline=False):
                                 lambda x: self._get_single_quote(x) % x
                             )  # noqa: E731
                     else:
-                        quot_func = pipes.quote
+                        quot_func = shlex.quote
         if not quot_func:
             return value
         return quot_func(value)
diff --git a/tests/unittests/distros/test_sysconfig.py b/tests/unittests/distros/test_sysconfig.py
index 9c3a2018edf..9f8d0cc8003 100644
--- a/tests/unittests/distros/test_sysconfig.py
+++ b/tests/unittests/distros/test_sysconfig.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ def test_parse_adjust(self):
         conf["IPV6TO4_ROUTING"] = "blah \tblah"
         contents2 = str(conf).strip()
         # Should be requoted due to whitespace
-        self.assertRegex(contents2, r"IPV6TO4_ROUTING=[\']blah\s+blah[\']")
+        self.assertRegex(contents2, r"IPV6TO4_ROUTING='blah\s+blah'")
 
     def test_parse_no_adjust_shell(self):
         conf = SysConf("".splitlines())