diff --git a/java-benchmarks/mx.java-benchmarks/mx_java_benchmarks.py b/java-benchmarks/mx.java-benchmarks/mx_java_benchmarks.py
index 0a75b6cb2d9f..be356983eef9 100644
--- a/java-benchmarks/mx.java-benchmarks/mx_java_benchmarks.py
+++ b/java-benchmarks/mx.java-benchmarks/mx_java_benchmarks.py
@@ -534,11 +534,11 @@ def extra_image_build_argument(self, benchmark, args):
                 '-J--add-exports=org.graalvm.nativeimage/org.graalvm.nativeimage.impl=ALL-UNNAMED',
                 '-J--add-exports=org.graalvm.nativeimage.builder/com.oracle.svm.core.jdk=ALL-UNNAMED',
                 '--exclude-config' ,
-                'io\.netty\.netty-codec',
-                '/META-INF/native-image/io\.netty/netty-codec/generated/handlers/reflect-config\.json',
+                'io\\.netty\\.netty-codec',
+                '/META-INF/native-image/io\\.netty/netty-codec/generated/handlers/reflect-config\\.json',
                 '--exclude-config',
-                'io\.netty\.netty-handler',
-                '/META-INF/native-image/io\.netty/netty-handler/generated/handlers/reflect-config\.json',
+                'io\\.netty\\.netty-handler',
+                '/META-INF/native-image/io\\.netty/netty-handler/generated/handlers/reflect-config\\.json',
                 '-H:-AddAllCharsets',
                 '-H:+ReportExceptionStackTraces',
             ] + mx_sdk_vm_impl.svm_experimental_options([