diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ui/SparkUI.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ui/SparkUI.scala
index f271c56021..589f811145 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ui/SparkUI.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ui/SparkUI.scala
@@ -86,7 +86,9 @@ private[spark] class SparkUI private (
   initialize()
 
   def getSparkUser: String = {
-    environmentListener.systemProperties.toMap.getOrElse("user.name", "<unknown>")
+    environmentListener.sparkUser
+      .orElse(environmentListener.systemProperties.toMap.get("user.name"))
+      .getOrElse("<unknown>")
   }
 
   def getAppName: String = appName
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ui/env/EnvironmentTab.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ui/env/EnvironmentTab.scala
index 8c18464e64..61b12aaa32 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ui/env/EnvironmentTab.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/ui/env/EnvironmentTab.scala
@@ -34,11 +34,16 @@ private[ui] class EnvironmentTab(parent: SparkUI) extends SparkUITab(parent, "en
 @DeveloperApi
 @deprecated("This class will be removed in a future release.", "2.2.0")
 class EnvironmentListener extends SparkListener {
+  var sparkUser: Option[String] = None
   var jvmInformation = Seq[(String, String)]()
   var sparkProperties = Seq[(String, String)]()
   var systemProperties = Seq[(String, String)]()
   var classpathEntries = Seq[(String, String)]()
 
+  override def onApplicationStart(event: SparkListenerApplicationStart): Unit = {
+    sparkUser = Some(event.sparkUser)
+  }
+
   override def onEnvironmentUpdate(environmentUpdate: SparkListenerEnvironmentUpdate) {
     synchronized {
       val environmentDetails = environmentUpdate.environmentDetails