diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/system/cron.py b/lib/ansible/modules/system/cron.py
index 6aca8a7fd04..7df46469b8b 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/system/cron.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/system/cron.py
@@ -383,6 +383,9 @@ class CronTab(object):
         return []
 
     def get_cron_job(self,minute,hour,day,month,weekday,job,special,disabled):
+        # normalize any leading/trailing newlines (ansible/ansible-modules-core#3791)
+        job = job.strip('\r\n')
+
         if disabled:
             disable_prefix = '#'
         else: