diff --git a/pkgs/applications/networking/cluster/spark/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/networking/cluster/spark/default.nix
index bf4c61a47591..90792ef3dd29 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/networking/cluster/spark/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/networking/cluster/spark/default.nix
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
   RSupport ? true,
   R,
   nixosTests,
+  # needeed in situations where hadoop's jdk version is too old
+  jdk21_headless,
 }:
 
 let
@@ -28,7 +30,15 @@ let
         R
         pysparkPython
         ;
-      inherit (finalAttrs.hadoop) jdk;
+      jdk =
+        if
+          (
+            (lib.versionAtLeast finalAttrs.version "4") && (lib.versionOlder finalAttrs.hadoop.jdk.version "21")
+          )
+        then
+          jdk21_headless
+        else
+          finalAttrs.hadoop.jdk;
       src = fetchzip {
         url =
 
@@ -96,6 +106,11 @@ in
   # we strictly adhere to the EOL timeline, despite 3.3.4 being released one day before (2023-12-08).
   # A better policy is to keep these versions around, and clean up EOL versions just before
   # a new NixOS release.
+  spark_4_0 = spark {
+    pname = "spark";
+    version = "4.0.1";
+    hash = "sha256-AW+EQ83b4orJO3+dUPPDlTRAH/D94U7KQBKvKjguChY=";
+  };
   spark_3_5 = spark {
     pname = "spark";
     version = "3.5.5";
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index adb80ed29531..f8fd9d837a60 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -5969,11 +5969,13 @@ with pkgs;
   rubyPackages_3_5 = recurseIntoAttrs ruby_3_5.gems;
 
   inherit (callPackages ../applications/networking/cluster/spark { })
+    spark_4_0
     spark_3_5
     spark_3_4
     ;
   spark3 = spark_3_5;
-  spark = spark3;
+  spark4 = spark_4_0;
+  spark = spark_4_0;
 
   inherit
     ({