diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml
index 844cd0d5d8b..6cb2f968f12 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/psql-ref.sgml
@@ -3859,6 +3859,11 @@ SELECT 1 \bind \sendpipeline
         <application>pg_dumpall</application>, and
         <application>pg_restore</application>, but it may be useful elsewhere.
         </para>
+        <para>
+        Unlike most other meta-commands, the entire remainder of the line is
+        always taken to be the argument of <command>\unrestrict</command>, and
+        neither variable interpolation nor backquote expansion are performed.
+        </para>
         </listitem>
       </varlistentry>
 
diff --git a/src/bin/psql/command.c b/src/bin/psql/command.c
index 027b8ab7ed0..fc5a0d4221f 100644
--- a/src/bin/psql/command.c
+++ b/src/bin/psql/command.c
@@ -2790,6 +2790,12 @@ exec_command_restrict(PsqlScanState scan_state, bool active_branch,
 
 		Assert(!restricted);
 
+		/*
+		 * Unlike \unrestrict, this argument may safely undergo backquote and
+		 * variable expansion: HandleSlashCmds() rejects \restrict in
+		 * restricted mode before its argument is scanned, so we only get here
+		 * when the input could execute such things anyway.
+		 */
 		opt = psql_scan_slash_option(scan_state, OT_NORMAL, NULL, true);
 		if (opt == NULL || opt[0] == '\0')
 		{
@@ -3198,7 +3204,7 @@ exec_command_unrestrict(PsqlScanState scan_state, bool active_branch,
 	{
 		char	   *opt;
 
-		opt = psql_scan_slash_option(scan_state, OT_NORMAL, NULL, true);
+		opt = psql_scan_slash_option(scan_state, OT_WHOLE_LINE, NULL, true);
 		if (opt == NULL || opt[0] == '\0')
 		{
 			pg_log_error("\\%s: missing required argument", cmd);
@@ -3222,7 +3228,7 @@ exec_command_unrestrict(PsqlScanState scan_state, bool active_branch,
 		}
 	}
 	else
-		ignore_slash_options(scan_state);
+		ignore_slash_whole_line(scan_state);
 
 	return PSQL_CMD_SKIP_LINE;
 }
diff --git a/src/bin/psql/t/001_basic.pl b/src/bin/psql/t/001_basic.pl
index bbd330216ae..04644f2fdfc 100644
--- a/src/bin/psql/t/001_basic.pl
+++ b/src/bin/psql/t/001_basic.pl
@@ -540,4 +540,11 @@ psql_fails_like(
 	qr/backslash commands are restricted; only \\unrestrict is allowed/,
 	'meta-command in restrict mode fails');
 
+psql_fails_like(
+	$node,
+	qq{\\restrict test
+\\unrestrict `echo test`},
+	qr/wrong key/,
+	'\unrestrict does not do backquote expansion');
+
 done_testing();