diff --git a/R/pkg/R/sparkR.R b/R/pkg/R/sparkR.R
index c57cc8f28561..56d70b2b436c 100644
--- a/R/pkg/R/sparkR.R
+++ b/R/pkg/R/sparkR.R
@@ -362,6 +362,10 @@ sparkR.session <- function(
   enableHiveSupport = TRUE,
   ...) {
 
+  if (length(sparkConfig[["spark.sql.warehouse.dir"]]) == 0) {
+    sparkConfig[["spark.sql.warehouse.dir"]] <- tempdir()
+  }
+
   sparkConfigMap <- convertNamedListToEnv(sparkConfig)
   namedParams <- list(...)
   if (length(namedParams) > 0) {
diff --git a/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkR.R b/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkR.R
index f73fc6baecce..f4e36c9c55ca 100644
--- a/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkR.R
+++ b/R/pkg/inst/tests/testthat/test_sparkR.R
@@ -44,3 +44,17 @@ test_that("sparkCheckInstall", {
   deployMode <- "client"
   expect_error(sparkCheckInstall(sparkHome, master, deployMode))
 })
+
+test_that("sparkR.session", {
+  # nothing should be written outside tempdir() without explicit user permission
+  inital_working_directory_files <- list.files()
+  sparkR.session(enableHiveSupport = FALSE)
+  df <- data.frame("col1" = c(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6),
+                   "col2" = c(1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0),
+                   "col3" = c(1, 0, 0, 2, 6, 2))
+  df <- as.DataFrame(df)
+  createOrReplaceTempView(df, "table")
+  result <- sql("SELECT * FROM `table`")
+  sparkR.session.stop()
+  expect_equal(inital_working_directory_files, list.files())
+})