diff --git a/dev/create-release/release-tag.sh b/dev/create-release/release-tag.sh
index 39856a995595..a9a518f9e10d 100755
--- a/dev/create-release/release-tag.sh
+++ b/dev/create-release/release-tag.sh
@@ -64,8 +64,12 @@ init_maven_sbt
 
 ASF_SPARK_REPO="gitbox.apache.org/repos/asf/spark.git"
 
+function uriencode { jq -nSRr --arg v "$1" '$v|@uri'; }
+
+declare -r ENCODED_ASF_PASSWORD=$(uriencode "$ASF_PASSWORD")
+
 rm -rf spark
-git clone "https://$ASF_USERNAME:$ASF_PASSWORD@$ASF_SPARK_REPO" -b $GIT_BRANCH
+git clone "https://$ASF_USERNAME:$ENCODED_ASF_PASSWORD@$ASF_SPARK_REPO" -b $GIT_BRANCH
 cd spark
 
 git config user.name "$GIT_NAME"
diff --git a/dev/create-release/release-util.sh b/dev/create-release/release-util.sh
index af9ed201b3b4..7961eed85089 100755
--- a/dev/create-release/release-util.sh
+++ b/dev/create-release/release-util.sh
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ function init_maven_sbt {
   if [[ $JAVA_VERSION < "1.8." ]]; then
     # Needed for maven central when using Java 7.
     SBT_OPTS="-Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2"
-    MVN_EXTRA_OPTS="-Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2"
+    MVN_EXTRA_OPTS="-Xmx2g -XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=1g -Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.1,TLSv1.2"
     MVN="$MVN $MVN_EXTRA_OPTS"
   fi
   export MVN MVN_EXTRA_OPTS SBT_OPTS
diff --git a/dev/create-release/spark-rm/Dockerfile b/dev/create-release/spark-rm/Dockerfile
index a02a6b7bccf2..200f8b97f8d6 100644
--- a/dev/create-release/spark-rm/Dockerfile
+++ b/dev/create-release/spark-rm/Dockerfile
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ RUN apt-get clean && apt-get update && $APT_INSTALL gnupg ca-certificates && \
   $APT_INSTALL nodejs && \
   # Install needed python packages. Use pip for installing packages (for consistency).
   $APT_INSTALL libpython3-dev python3-pip python3-setuptools && \
+  # qpdf is required for CRAN checks to pass.
+  $APT_INSTALL qpdf jq && \
   # Change default python version to python3.
   update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python2.7 1 && \
   update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python3.6 2 && \