diff --git a/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/SystemJvmOptions.java b/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/SystemJvmOptions.java
index d5ebf57d6968..d58d8935d5e1 100644
--- a/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/SystemJvmOptions.java
+++ b/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/SystemJvmOptions.java
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ final class SystemJvmOptions {
             // log4j 2
             "-Dlog4j.shutdownHookEnabled=false",
             "-Dlog4j2.disable.jmx=true",
+            "-Dlog4j2.formatMsgNoLookups=true",
             /*
              * Due to internationalization enhancements in JDK 9 Elasticsearch need to set the provider to COMPAT otherwise time/date
              * parsing will break in an incompatible way for some date patterns and locales.