diff --git a/pkg/engine/jsonContext.go b/pkg/engine/jsonContext.go
index a83629fef8..4dd3e2b080 100644
--- a/pkg/engine/jsonContext.go
+++ b/pkg/engine/jsonContext.go
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/resourcecache"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/dynamic/dynamiclister"
+	"strings"
 )
 
 // LoadContext - Fetches and adds external data to the Context.
@@ -183,6 +184,9 @@ func fetchConfigMap(entry kyverno.ContextEntry, lister dynamiclister.Lister) ([]
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to convert configmap %s/%s: %v", namespace, name, err)
 	}
 
+	// update the unstructuredObj["data"] to delimit and split the string value (containing "\n") with "\n"
+	unstructuredObj["data"] = parseMultilineBlockBody(unstructuredObj["data"].(map[string]interface{}))
+
 	// extract configmap data
 	contextData["data"] = unstructuredObj["data"]
 	contextData["metadata"] = unstructuredObj["metadata"]
@@ -195,3 +199,25 @@ func fetchConfigMap(entry kyverno.ContextEntry, lister dynamiclister.Lister) ([]
 
 	return data, nil
 }
+
+// parseMultilineBlockBody recursively iterates through a map and updates its values in the following way
+// whenever it encounters a string value containing "\n",
+// it converts it into a []string by splitting it by "\n"
+func parseMultilineBlockBody(m map[string]interface{}) map[string]interface{} {
+	for k, v := range m {
+		switch typedValue := v.(type) {
+		case string:
+			trimmedTypedValue := strings.Trim(typedValue, "\n")
+			if strings.Contains(trimmedTypedValue, "\n") {
+				m[k] = strings.Split(trimmedTypedValue, "\n")
+			} else {
+				m[k] = trimmedTypedValue // trimming a str if it has trailing newline characters
+			}
+		case map[string]interface{}:
+			m[k] = parseMultilineBlockBody(typedValue)
+		default:
+			continue
+		}
+	}
+	return m
+}
diff --git a/pkg/engine/jsonContext_test.go b/pkg/engine/jsonContext_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0bb4c65455
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/engine/jsonContext_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+package engine
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"gotest.tools/assert"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func Test_parseMultilineBlockBody(t *testing.T) {
+	tcs := []struct {
+		multilineBlockRaw         []byte
+		expectedMultilineBlockRaw []byte
+		expectedErr               bool
+	}{
+		{
+			multilineBlockRaw: []byte(`{
+				"key1": "value",
+				"key2": "value2",
+				"key3": "word1\nword2\nword3",
+				"key4": "word4\n"
+			}`),
+			expectedMultilineBlockRaw: []byte(`{"key1":"value","key2":"value2","key3":["word1","word2","word3"],"key4":"word4"}`),
+			expectedErr:               false,
+		},
+		{
+			multilineBlockRaw: []byte(`{
+				"key1": "value",
+				"key2": "value2",
+				"key3": "word1\nword2\nword3",
+				"key4": "word4"
+			}`),
+			expectedMultilineBlockRaw: []byte(`{"key1":"value","key2":"value2","key3":["word1","word2","word3"],"key4":"word4"}`),
+			expectedErr:               false,
+		},
+		{
+			multilineBlockRaw: []byte(`{
+				"key1": "value1",
+				"key2": "value2\n",
+				"key3": "word1",
+				"key4": "word2"
+			}`),
+			expectedMultilineBlockRaw: []byte(`{"key1":"value1","key2":["value2",""]}`),
+			expectedErr:               true,
+		},
+		{
+			multilineBlockRaw: []byte(`{
+				"key1": "value1",
+				"key2": "[\"cluster-admin\", \"cluster-operator\", \"tenant-admin\"]"
+			}`),
+			expectedMultilineBlockRaw: []byte(`{"key1":"value1","key2":"[\"cluster-admin\", \"cluster-operator\", \"tenant-admin\"]"}`),
+			expectedErr:               false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tcs {
+		var multilineBlock map[string]interface{}
+		err := json.Unmarshal(tc.multilineBlockRaw, &multilineBlock)
+		assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+		parsedMultilineBlock := parseMultilineBlockBody(multilineBlock)
+		parsedMultilineBlockRaw, err := json.Marshal(parsedMultilineBlock)
+		assert.NilError(t, err)
+
+		if tc.expectedErr {
+			assert.Assert(t, bytes.Compare(parsedMultilineBlockRaw, tc.expectedMultilineBlockRaw) != 0)
+		} else {
+			assert.Assert(t, bytes.Compare(parsedMultilineBlockRaw, tc.expectedMultilineBlockRaw) == 0)
+		}
+	}
+}