diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index 53de9ba8ba3..22113c45492 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -291,6 +291,8 @@ Bug Fixes
 * SOLR-5019: spurious ConcurrentModificationException when spell check component
   was in use with filters. (yonik)
   
+* SOLR-5018: The Overseer should avoid publishing the state for collections that do not 
+  exist under the /collections zk node. (Mark Miller)
 
 Optimizations
 ----------------------
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java
index 781cae49995..1aabf41bcf0 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import java.util.Map.Entry;
 import java.util.Set;
 
 import org.apache.solr.common.SolrException;
+import org.apache.solr.common.SolrException.ErrorCode;
 import org.apache.solr.common.cloud.ClosableThread;
 import org.apache.solr.common.cloud.ClusterState;
 import org.apache.solr.common.cloud.DocCollection;
@@ -269,6 +270,19 @@ public class Overseer {
        */
       private ClusterState updateState(ClusterState state, final ZkNodeProps message) {
         final String collection = message.getStr(ZkStateReader.COLLECTION_PROP);
+        assert collection.length() > 0 : message;
+        
+        try {
+          if (!zkClient.exists(ZkStateReader.COLLECTIONS_ZKNODE + "/" + collection, true)) {
+            log.warn("Could not find collection node for " + collection + ", skipping publish state");
+          }
+        } catch (KeeperException e) {
+          throw new SolrException(ErrorCode.SERVER_ERROR, e);
+        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+          Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+          throw new SolrException(ErrorCode.SERVER_ERROR, e);
+        }
+        
         String coreNodeName = message.getStr(ZkStateReader.CORE_NODE_NAME_PROP);
         if (coreNodeName == null) {
           coreNodeName = getAssignedCoreNodeName(state, message);
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ZkController.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ZkController.java
index b046e7d4018..7e0682c91ad 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ZkController.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ZkController.java
@@ -990,6 +990,9 @@ public final class ZkController {
       numShards = Integer.getInteger(ZkStateReader.NUM_SHARDS_PROP);
     }
     
+    assert cd.getCloudDescriptor().getCollectionName() != null && cd.getCloudDescriptor()
+        .getCollectionName().length() > 0;
+    
     String coreNodeName = cd.getCloudDescriptor().getCoreNodeName();
     //assert cd.getCloudDescriptor().getShardId() != null;
     ZkNodeProps m = new ZkNodeProps(Overseer.QUEUE_OPERATION, "state", 
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/ConfigSolrXmlOld.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/ConfigSolrXmlOld.java
index 40c1a87fe14..fc9418a97a1 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/ConfigSolrXmlOld.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/ConfigSolrXmlOld.java
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ public class ConfigSolrXmlOld extends ConfigSolr {
         + ">\n"
         + "    <core name=\""
         + CoreContainer.DEFAULT_DEFAULT_CORE_NAME
-        + "\" shard=\"${shard:}\" collection=\"${collection:}\" instanceDir=\"collection1\" />\n"
+        + "\" shard=\"${shard:}\" collection=\"${collection:collection1}\" instanceDir=\"collection1\" />\n"
         + "  </cores>\n" + "</solr>";
 
   @Override
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/ClusterStateUpdateTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/ClusterStateUpdateTest.java
index 7bc0789c617..01d7b4404b1 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/ClusterStateUpdateTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/ClusterStateUpdateTest.java
@@ -154,6 +154,10 @@ public class ClusterStateUpdateTest extends SolrTestCaseJ4  {
         "testcore");
     
     dcore.setDataDir(dataDir4.getAbsolutePath());
+    
+    CloudDescriptor cloudDesc = new CloudDescriptor();
+    cloudDesc.setCollectionName("testcore");
+    dcore.setCloudDescriptor(cloudDesc);
 
     if (container1.getZkController() != null) {
       container1.preRegisterInZk(dcore);