diff --git a/task/buildah-remote/0.1/buildah-remote.yaml b/task/buildah-remote/0.1/buildah-remote.yaml
index d2dc52915d..c9d4cd4ca1 100644
--- a/task/buildah-remote/0.1/buildah-remote.yaml
+++ b/task/buildah-remote/0.1/buildah-remote.yaml
@@ -258,6 +258,16 @@ spec:
           mkdir -p "$YUM_REPOS_D_FETCHED"
           cp --no-clobber "$prefetched_repo_for_my_arch" "$YUM_REPOS_D_FETCHED"
         fi
+
+        # quotes within variable are not handled very well
+        # by ssh command and it impacts the buildah-remote task (which is based on this task)
+        # we only need to know if prefetch was used, not the actual
+        # input. Therefore, we simplify the variable.
+        #
+        if [ -n "${PREFETCH_INPUT}" ] ; then
+          PREFETCH_INPUT="prefetched"
+        fi
+
       fi
 
       # if yum repofiles stored in git, copy them to mount point outside the source dir
diff --git a/task/buildah/0.1/buildah.yaml b/task/buildah/0.1/buildah.yaml
index 165129fec8..e780f91222 100644
--- a/task/buildah/0.1/buildah.yaml
+++ b/task/buildah/0.1/buildah.yaml
@@ -210,6 +210,16 @@ spec:
           mkdir -p "$YUM_REPOS_D_FETCHED"
           cp --no-clobber "$prefetched_repo_for_my_arch" "$YUM_REPOS_D_FETCHED"
         fi
+      
+        # quotes within variable are not handled very well
+        # by ssh command and it impacts the buildah-remote task (which is based on this task)
+        # we only need to know if prefetch was used, not the actual
+        # input. Therefore, we simplify the variable.
+        #
+        if [ -n "${PREFETCH_INPUT}" ] ; then
+          PREFETCH_INPUT="prefetched"
+        fi
+
       fi
 
       # if yum repofiles stored in git, copy them to mount point outside the source dir