diff --git a/changelog/29874.txt b/changelog/29874.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..faa3f65767
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/29874.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+raft/retry_join: Fix decoding `auto_join` configurations that include escape characters
+```