diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index 0f8842872bc..b0716bf75ef 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -224,6 +224,8 @@ Other Changes
 
 * SOLR-9037: Replace multiple "/replication" strings with one static constant. (Christine Poerschke)
 
+* SOLR-9047: zkcli should allow alternative locations for log4j configuration (Gregory Chanan)
+
 ==================  6.0.0 ==================
 
 Consult the LUCENE_CHANGES.txt file for additional, low level, changes in this release
diff --git a/solr/server/scripts/cloud-scripts/zkcli.bat b/solr/server/scripts/cloud-scripts/zkcli.bat
index 933e8a3a44a..b4b96930819 100644
--- a/solr/server/scripts/cloud-scripts/zkcli.bat
+++ b/solr/server/scripts/cloud-scripts/zkcli.bat
@@ -9,4 +9,10 @@ REM  Find location of this script
 set SDIR=%~dp0
 if "%SDIR:~-1%"=="\" set SDIR=%SDIR:~0,-1%
 
-"%JVM%" -Dlog4j.configuration="file:%SDIR%\log4j.properties" -classpath "%SDIR%\..\..\solr-webapp\webapp\WEB-INF\lib\*;%SDIR%\..\..\lib\ext\*" org.apache.solr.cloud.ZkCLI %*
+if defined LOG4J_PROPS (
+  set "LOG4J_CONFIG=file:%LOG4J_PROPS%"
+) else (
+  set "LOG4J_CONFIG=file:%SDIR%\log4j.properties"
+)
+
+"%JVM%" -Dlog4j.configuration="%LOG4J_PROPS%" -classpath "%SDIR%\..\..\solr-webapp\webapp\WEB-INF\lib\*;%SDIR%\..\..\lib\ext\*" org.apache.solr.cloud.ZkCLI %*
diff --git a/solr/server/scripts/cloud-scripts/zkcli.sh b/solr/server/scripts/cloud-scripts/zkcli.sh
index 15b5392d2e5..d049be0ff46 100755
--- a/solr/server/scripts/cloud-scripts/zkcli.sh
+++ b/solr/server/scripts/cloud-scripts/zkcli.sh
@@ -9,5 +9,11 @@ JVM="java"
 
 sdir="`dirname \"$0\"`"
 
-PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH $JVM -Dlog4j.configuration=file:$sdir/log4j.properties -classpath "$sdir/../../solr-webapp/webapp/WEB-INF/lib/*:$sdir/../../lib/ext/*" org.apache.solr.cloud.ZkCLI ${1+"$@"}
+if [ -n "$LOG4J_PROPS" ]; then
+  log4j_config="file:$LOG4J_PROPS"
+else
+  log4j_config="file:$sdir/log4j.properties"
+fi
+
+PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH $JVM -Dlog4j.configuration=$log4j_config -classpath "$sdir/../../solr-webapp/webapp/WEB-INF/lib/*:$sdir/../../lib/ext/*" org.apache.solr.cloud.ZkCLI ${1+"$@"}