diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d53cfb58f3..9007c33300 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -210,6 +210,11 @@
     <test.exclude.tags></test.exclude.tags>
     <test.include.tags></test.include.tags>
 
+    <test.jdwp.address>localhost:0</test.jdwp.address>
+    <test.jdwp.suspend>y</test.jdwp.suspend>
+    <test.jdwp.server>y</test.jdwp.server>
+    <test.debug.suite>false</test.debug.suite>
+
     <!-- Package to use when relocating shaded classes. -->
     <spark.shade.packageName>org.sparkproject</spark.shade.packageName>
 
@@ -3443,5 +3448,14 @@
         </os>
       </activation>
     </profile>
+    <profile>
+      <id>jdwp-test-debug</id>
+      <properties>
+        <jdwp.arg.line>-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,suspend=${test.jdwp.suspend},server=${test.jdwp.server},address=${test.jdwp.address}</jdwp.arg.line>
+        <debugArgLine>${jdwp.arg.line}</debugArgLine>
+        <maven.surefire.debug>${jdwp.arg.line}</maven.surefire.debug>
+        <debugForkedProcess>${test.debug.suite}</debugForkedProcess>
+      </properties>
+    </profile>
   </profiles>
 </project>
diff --git a/project/SparkBuild.scala b/project/SparkBuild.scala
index 4d7debffab..9b28205689 100644
--- a/project/SparkBuild.scala
+++ b/project/SparkBuild.scala
@@ -97,6 +97,9 @@ object SparkBuild extends PomBuild {
       case Some(v) =>
         v.split("(\\s+|,)").filterNot(_.isEmpty).map(_.trim.replaceAll("-P", "")).toSeq
     }
+    if (profiles.contains("jdwp-test-debug")) {
+      sys.props.put("test.jdwp.enabled", "true")
+    }
     profiles
   }
 
@@ -1071,6 +1074,19 @@ object TestSettings {
     javaOptions in Test ++= "-Xmx4g -Xss4m -XX:+UseParallelGC -XX:-UseDynamicNumberOfGCThreads"
       .split(" ").toSeq,
     javaOptions += "-Xmx3g",
+    javaOptions in Test ++= {
+      val jdwpEnabled = sys.props.getOrElse("test.jdwp.enabled", "false").toBoolean
+
+      if (jdwpEnabled) {
+        val jdwpAddr = sys.props.getOrElse("test.jdwp.address", "localhost:0")
+        val jdwpServer = sys.props.getOrElse("test.jdwp.server", "y")
+        val jdwpSuspend = sys.props.getOrElse("test.jdwp.suspend", "y")
+        ("-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket," +
+          s"suspend=$jdwpSuspend,server=$jdwpServer,address=$jdwpAddr").split(" ").toSeq
+      } else {
+        Seq.empty
+      }
+    },
     // Exclude tags defined in a system property
     testOptions in Test += Tests.Argument(TestFrameworks.ScalaTest,
       sys.props.get("test.exclude.tags").map { tags =>