diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
index 734573ba31f71..6cd5de887b169 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSession.scala
@@ -951,7 +951,8 @@ object SparkSession {
 
         session = new SparkSession(sparkContext, None, None, extensions)
         options.foreach { case (k, v) => session.initialSessionOptions.put(k, v) }
-        defaultSession.set(session)
+        setDefaultSession(session)
+        setActiveSession(session)
 
         // Register a successfully instantiated context to the singleton. This should be at the
         // end of the class definition so that the singleton is updated only if there is no
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSessionBuilderSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSessionBuilderSuite.scala
index c0301f2ce2d66..4c560d4b032d0 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSessionBuilderSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/SparkSessionBuilderSuite.scala
@@ -50,6 +50,14 @@ class SparkSessionBuilderSuite extends SparkFunSuite with BeforeAndAfterEach {
     assert(SparkSession.builder().getOrCreate() == session)
   }
 
+  test("sets default and active session") {
+    assert(SparkSession.getDefaultSession == None)
+    assert(SparkSession.getActiveSession == None)
+    val session = SparkSession.builder().master("local").getOrCreate()
+    assert(SparkSession.getDefaultSession == Some(session))
+    assert(SparkSession.getActiveSession == Some(session))
+  }
+
   test("config options are propagated to existing SparkSession") {
     val session1 = SparkSession.builder().master("local").config("spark-config1", "a").getOrCreate()
     assert(session1.conf.get("spark-config1") == "a")
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/test/TestSQLContext.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/test/TestSQLContext.scala
index 3038b822beb4a..17603deacdcdd 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/test/TestSQLContext.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/test/TestSQLContext.scala
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ private[spark] class TestSparkSession(sc: SparkContext) extends SparkSession(sc)
   }
 
   SparkSession.setDefaultSession(this)
+  SparkSession.setActiveSession(this)
 
   @transient
   override lazy val sessionState: SessionState = {
diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/test/TestHive.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/test/TestHive.scala
index 8b0fe56b24fcd..533e7a0e022cb 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/test/TestHive.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/test/TestHive.scala
@@ -179,6 +179,9 @@ private[hive] class TestHiveSparkSession(
       loadTestTables)
   }
 
+  SparkSession.setDefaultSession(this)
+  SparkSession.setActiveSession(this)
+
   { // set the metastore temporary configuration
     val metastoreTempConf = HiveUtils.newTemporaryConfiguration(useInMemoryDerby = false) ++ Map(
       ConfVars.METASTORE_INTEGER_JDO_PUSHDOWN.varname -> "true",