diff --git a/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/config/DFSPropertiesConfiguration.java b/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/config/DFSPropertiesConfiguration.java
index e4176499487ee..f3614a64b703f 100644
--- a/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/config/DFSPropertiesConfiguration.java
+++ b/hudi-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hudi/common/config/DFSPropertiesConfiguration.java
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 
@@ -90,11 +91,24 @@ public DFSPropertiesConfiguration() {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Load global props from hudi-defaults.conf which is under CONF_FILE_DIR_ENV_NAME.
+   * Load global props from hudi-defaults.conf which is under class loader or CONF_FILE_DIR_ENV_NAME.
    * @return Typed Properties
    */
   public static TypedProperties loadGlobalProps() {
     DFSPropertiesConfiguration conf = new DFSPropertiesConfiguration();
+
+    // First try loading the external config file from class loader
+    URL configFile = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResource(DEFAULT_PROPERTIES_FILE);
+    if (configFile != null) {
+      try (BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(configFile.openStream()))) {
+        conf.addPropsFromStream(br);
+        return conf.getProps();
+      } catch (IOException ioe) {
+        throw new HoodieIOException(
+            String.format("Failed to read %s from class loader", DEFAULT_PROPERTIES_FILE), ioe);
+      }
+    }
+    // Try loading the external config file from local file system
     Option<Path> defaultConfPath = getConfPathFromEnv();
     if (defaultConfPath.isPresent()) {
       conf.addPropsFromFile(defaultConfPath.get());