diff --git a/hail/python/hail/docs/change_log.md b/hail/python/hail/docs/change_log.md
index 70e87e03db8..34d6ad76e5c 100644
--- a/hail/python/hail/docs/change_log.md
+++ b/hail/python/hail/docs/change_log.md
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ critically depend on experimental functionality.**
 
 ## Version 0.2.125
 
-Released 2023-10-25
+Released 2023-10-26
 
 ### New Features
 
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ Released 2023-10-25
 
 - (hail#13894) Fix #13837 in which Hail could break a Spark installation if the Hail JAR appears on the classpath before the Scala JARs.
 
+- (hail#13919) Fix #13915 which prevented using a glob pattern in `hl.import_vcf`.
 
 ## Version 0.2.124
 
diff --git a/hail/python/hailtop/utils/utils.py b/hail/python/hailtop/utils/utils.py
index aa5deddcfe5..f161cc988cf 100644
--- a/hail/python/hailtop/utils/utils.py
+++ b/hail/python/hailtop/utils/utils.py
@@ -638,8 +638,7 @@ def is_transient_error(e: BaseException) -> bool:
             and e.args[0] == "Response payload is not completed"):
         return True
     if (isinstance(e, aiohttp.ClientOSError)
-            and len(e.args) >= 2
-            and 'sslv3 alert bad record mac' in e.args[1]):
+            and 'sslv3 alert bad record mac' in e.strerror):
         # aiohttp.client_exceptions.ClientOSError: [Errno 1] [SSL: SSLV3_ALERT_BAD_RECORD_MAC] sslv3 alert bad record mac (_ssl.c:2548)
         #
         # This appears to be a symptom of Google rate-limiting as of 2023-10-15
diff --git a/hail/python/test/hail/conftest.py b/hail/python/test/hail/conftest.py
index 1320b74bfef..933b522181c 100644
--- a/hail/python/test/hail/conftest.py
+++ b/hail/python/test/hail/conftest.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 from hail import current_backend, init, reset_global_randomness
 from hail.backend.service_backend import ServiceBackend
+from hailtop.hail_event_loop import hail_event_loop
 from hailtop.utils import secret_alnum_string
 from .helpers import hl_init_for_test, hl_stop_for_test
 
diff --git a/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/backend/BackendServer.scala b/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/backend/BackendServer.scala
index d730ca67611..ad6fb5f0a75 100644
--- a/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/backend/BackendServer.scala
+++ b/hail/src/main/scala/is/hail/backend/BackendServer.scala
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package is.hail.backend
 
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
+import java.util.concurrent._
 import com.sun.net.httpserver.{HttpContext, HttpExchange, HttpHandler, HttpServer}
 
 import org.json4s._
@@ -26,12 +27,22 @@ class BackendServer(backend: Backend) {
   // 0 => let the OS pick an available port
   private[this] val httpServer = HttpServer.create(new InetSocketAddress(0), 10)
   private[this] val handler = new BackendHttpHandler(backend)
+  private[this] val executor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(1,
+    new ThreadFactory() {
+      private[this] val childFactory = Executors.defaultThreadFactory()
+
+      def newThread(r: Runnable): Thread = {
+        val t = childFactory.newThread(r)
+        t.setDaemon(true)
+        t
+      }
+    })
 
   def port = httpServer.getAddress.getPort
 
   def start(): Unit = {
     httpServer.createContext("/", handler)
-    httpServer.setExecutor(null)
+    httpServer.setExecutor(executor)
     httpServer.start()
   }