diff --git a/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/listener/ELContextCleaner.java b/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/listener/ELContextCleaner.java
index 25b5d892e402..7d4ba7368c1e 100644
--- a/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/listener/ELContextCleaner.java
+++ b/jetty-servlet/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/servlet/listener/ELContextCleaner.java
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ public void contextDestroyed(ServletContextEvent sce)
             //Get a reference via reflection to the properties field which is holding class references
             Field field = getField(beanELResolver);
 
+            field.setAccessible(true);
+
             //Get rid of references
             purgeEntries(field);