diff --git a/fail2ban/helpers.py b/fail2ban/helpers.py
index fa16693a..c2c22a27 100644
--- a/fail2ban/helpers.py
+++ b/fail2ban/helpers.py
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ def splitwords(s):
 	"""
 	if not s:
 		return []
-	return list(filter(bool, [v.strip() for v in re.split('[ ,\n]+', s)]))
+	return list(filter(bool, [v.strip() for v in re.split('[\s,]+', s)]))
 
 def _merge_dicts(x, y):
 	"""Helper to merge dicts.
diff --git a/fail2ban/tests/misctestcase.py b/fail2ban/tests/misctestcase.py
index d91729fb..b0e29fb0 100644
--- a/fail2ban/tests/misctestcase.py
+++ b/fail2ban/tests/misctestcase.py
@@ -66,8 +66,7 @@ class HelpersTest(unittest.TestCase):
 		self.assertEqual(splitwords(' 1, 2 , '), ['1', '2'])
 		self.assertEqual(splitwords(' 1\n  2'), ['1', '2'])
 		self.assertEqual(splitwords(' 1\n  2, 3'), ['1', '2', '3'])
-		# string as unicode:
-		self.assertEqual(splitwords(' 1\n  2, 3'), ['1', '2', '3'])
+		self.assertEqual(splitwords('\t1\t  2,\r\n 3\n'), ['1', '2', '3']); # other spaces
 
 
 def _sh_call(cmd):