diff --git a/python/pyspark/context.py b/python/pyspark/context.py
index 529d16b480399..5e4aeac330c5a 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/context.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/context.py
@@ -54,6 +54,64 @@
 }
 
 
+class Py4jCallbackConnectionCleaner(object):
+
+    """
+    A cleaner to clean up callback connections that are not closed by Py4j. See SPARK-12617.
+    It will scan all callback connections every 30 seconds and close the dead connections.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, gateway):
+        self._gateway = gateway
+        self._stopped = False
+        self._timer = None
+        self._lock = RLock()
+
+    def start(self):
+        if self._stopped:
+            return
+
+        def clean_closed_connections():
+            from py4j.java_gateway import quiet_close, quiet_shutdown
+
+            callback_server = self._gateway._callback_server
+            with callback_server.lock:
+                try:
+                    closed_connections = []
+                    for connection in callback_server.connections:
+                        if not connection.isAlive():
+                            quiet_close(connection.input)
+                            quiet_shutdown(connection.socket)
+                            quiet_close(connection.socket)
+                            closed_connections.append(connection)
+
+                    for closed_connection in closed_connections:
+                        callback_server.connections.remove(closed_connection)
+                except Exception:
+                    import traceback
+                    traceback.print_exc()
+
+            self._start_timer(clean_closed_connections)
+
+        self._start_timer(clean_closed_connections)
+
+    def _start_timer(self, f):
+        from threading import Timer
+
+        with self._lock:
+            if not self._stopped:
+                self._timer = Timer(30.0, f)
+                self._timer.daemon = True
+                self._timer.start()
+
+    def stop(self):
+        with self._lock:
+            self._stopped = True
+            if self._timer:
+                self._timer.cancel()
+                self._timer = None
+
+
 class SparkContext(object):
 
     """
@@ -68,6 +126,7 @@ class SparkContext(object):
     _active_spark_context = None
     _lock = RLock()
     _python_includes = None  # zip and egg files that need to be added to PYTHONPATH
+    _py4j_cleaner = None
 
     PACKAGE_EXTENSIONS = ('.zip', '.egg', '.jar')
 
@@ -244,6 +303,8 @@ def _ensure_initialized(cls, instance=None, gateway=None):
             if not SparkContext._gateway:
                 SparkContext._gateway = gateway or launch_gateway()
                 SparkContext._jvm = SparkContext._gateway.jvm
+                _py4j_cleaner = Py4jCallbackConnectionCleaner(SparkContext._gateway)
+                _py4j_cleaner.start()
 
             if instance:
                 if (SparkContext._active_spark_context and