diff --git a/solr/solr-ref-guide/src/solrcloud-autoscaling-policy-preferences.adoc b/solr/solr-ref-guide/src/solrcloud-autoscaling-policy-preferences.adoc
index 305d91a42b7..bdc10d06c5b 100644
--- a/solr/solr-ref-guide/src/solrcloud-autoscaling-policy-preferences.adoc
+++ b/solr/solr-ref-guide/src/solrcloud-autoscaling-policy-preferences.adoc
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ The type of the replica to which the policy rule should apply. If omitted, the r
 This is a required attribute. The number of replicas that must exist to satisfy the rule. This must be one of
 
 * a positive integer . e.g : "`3`"
-* an integer with a decimal value . e.g: "`1.66`" . This means both 1 and 2 are acceptable values but the system would prefer `2`
+* a number with a decimal value . e.g: "`1.66`" . This means both 1 and 2 are acceptable values but the system would prefer `2`
 * a number range. Such as `"3-5"` . This means `3,4,5` are acceptable values
 * a percentage value . e.g: `33%` . This is computed to a decimal value at runtime
 
diff --git a/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/cloud/autoscaling/Clause.java b/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/cloud/autoscaling/Clause.java
index d40f0d8beea..e51158c2c6e 100644
--- a/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/cloud/autoscaling/Clause.java
+++ b/solr/solrj/src/java/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/cloud/autoscaling/Clause.java
@@ -345,7 +345,17 @@ public class Clause implements MapWriter, Comparable<Clause> {
       @Override
       public String match(String val) {
         if (val != null && !val.isEmpty() && val.charAt(val.length() - 1) == '%') {
-          return val.substring(0, val.length() - 1);
+          String newVal = val.substring(0, val.length() - 1);
+          double d;
+          try {
+            d = Double.parseDouble(newVal);
+          } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid percentage value : " + val);
+          }
+          if (d < 0 || d > 100) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Percentage value must lie between [1 -100] : provided value : " + val);
+          }
+          return newVal;
         } else {
           return null;
         }
diff --git a/solr/solrj/src/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/cloud/autoscaling/TestPolicy.java b/solr/solrj/src/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/cloud/autoscaling/TestPolicy.java
index 3558b1a796e..bee7e5479e4 100644
--- a/solr/solrj/src/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/cloud/autoscaling/TestPolicy.java
+++ b/solr/solrj/src/test/org/apache/solr/client/solrj/cloud/autoscaling/TestPolicy.java
@@ -255,6 +255,12 @@ public class TestPolicy extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
     assertEquals(new Double(-1.0), clause.replica.delta(2));
     assertEquals(new Double(0.0), clause.replica.delta(4));
 
+    expectThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class,
+        () -> Clause.create((Map<String, Object>) Utils.fromJSONString("{replica: '-33%', node:'#ANY'}")));
+    expectThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class,
+        () -> Clause.create((Map<String, Object>) Utils.fromJSONString("{replica: 'x%', node:'#ANY'}")));
+    expectThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class,
+        () -> Clause.create((Map<String, Object>) Utils.fromJSONString("{replica: '20%-33%', node:'#ANY'}")));
 
   }