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 1dafa7d332c..3589fd8e9aa 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/Overseer.java
@@ -159,7 +159,15 @@ public class Overseer implements Closeable {
                 log.debug("processMessage: workQueueSize: {}, message = {}", workQueue.getStats().getQueueLength(), message);
                 // force flush to ZK after each message because there is no fallback if workQueue items
                 // are removed from workQueue but fail to be written to ZK
-                clusterState = processQueueItem(message, clusterState, zkStateWriter, false, null);
+                try {
+                  clusterState = processQueueItem(message, clusterState, zkStateWriter, false, null);
+                } catch (Exception e) {
+                  if (isBadMessage(e)) {
+                    log.warn("Exception when process message = {}, consider as bad message and poll out from the queue", message);
+                    workQueue.poll();
+                  }
+                  throw e;
+                }
                 workQueue.poll(); // poll-ing removes the element we got by peek-ing
                 data = workQueue.peek();
               }
@@ -167,33 +175,28 @@ public class Overseer implements Closeable {
               if (hadWorkItems) {
                 clusterState = zkStateWriter.writePendingUpdates();
               }
-            } catch (KeeperException e) {
-              if (e.code() == KeeperException.Code.SESSIONEXPIRED) {
-                log.warn("Solr cannot talk to ZK, exiting Overseer work queue loop", e);
-                return;
-              }
-              log.error("Exception in Overseer work queue loop", e);
+            } catch (KeeperException.SessionExpiredException e) {
+              log.warn("Solr cannot talk to ZK, exiting Overseer work queue loop", e);
+              return;
             } catch (InterruptedException e) {
               Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
               return;
             } catch (Exception e) {
-              log.error("Exception in Overseer work queue loop", e);
+              log.error("Exception in Overseer when process message from work queue, retrying", e);
+              refreshClusterState = true;
+              continue;
             }
           }
 
           byte[] head = null;
           try {
             head = stateUpdateQueue.peek(true);
-          } catch (KeeperException e) {
-            if (e.code() == KeeperException.Code.SESSIONEXPIRED) {
-              log.warn("Solr cannot talk to ZK, exiting Overseer main queue loop", e);
-              return;
-            }
-            log.error("Exception in Overseer main queue loop", e);
+          } catch (KeeperException.SessionExpiredException e) {
+            log.warn("Solr cannot talk to ZK, exiting Overseer main queue loop", e);
+            return;
           } catch (InterruptedException e) {
             Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
             return;
-
           } catch (Exception e) {
             log.error("Exception in Overseer main queue loop", e);
           }
@@ -237,16 +240,9 @@ public class Overseer implements Closeable {
             // clean work queue
             while (workQueue.poll() != null);
 
-          } catch (KeeperException.BadVersionException bve) {
-            log.warn("Bad version writing to ZK using compare-and-set, will force refresh cluster state: {}", bve.getMessage());
-            refreshClusterState = true;
-          } catch (KeeperException e) {
-            if (e.code() == KeeperException.Code.SESSIONEXPIRED) {
-              log.warn("Solr cannot talk to ZK, exiting Overseer main queue loop", e);
-              return;
-            }
-            log.error("Exception in Overseer main queue loop", e);
-            refreshClusterState = true; // force refresh state in case of all errors
+          } catch (KeeperException.SessionExpiredException e) {
+            log.warn("Solr cannot talk to ZK, exiting Overseer main queue loop", e);
+            return;
           } catch (InterruptedException e) {
             Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
             return;
@@ -262,6 +258,16 @@ public class Overseer implements Closeable {
       }
     }
 
+    // Return true whenever the exception thrown by ZkStateWriter is correspond
+    // to a invalid state or 'bad' message (in this case, we should remove that message from queue)
+    private boolean isBadMessage(Exception e) {
+      if (e instanceof KeeperException) {
+        KeeperException ke = (KeeperException) e;
+        return ke.code() == KeeperException.Code.NONODE || ke.code() == KeeperException.Code.NODEEXISTS;
+      }
+      return !(e instanceof InterruptedException);
+    }
+
     private ClusterState processQueueItem(ZkNodeProps message, ClusterState clusterState, ZkStateWriter zkStateWriter, boolean enableBatching, ZkStateWriter.ZkWriteCallback callback) throws Exception {
       final String operation = message.getStr(QUEUE_OPERATION);
       List<ZkWriteCommand> zkWriteCommands = null;
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/OverseerTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/OverseerTest.java
index 030be51cdf2..62f97cbdacd 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/OverseerTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/OverseerTest.java
@@ -689,6 +689,63 @@ public class OverseerTest extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
       }
     }
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testExceptionWhenFlushClusterState() throws Exception {
+    String zkDir = createTempDir("zkData").toFile().getAbsolutePath();
+
+    ZkTestServer server = new ZkTestServer(zkDir);
+
+    SolrZkClient controllerClient = null;
+    SolrZkClient overseerClient = null;
+    ZkStateReader reader = null;
+
+    try {
+      server.run();
+      controllerClient = new SolrZkClient(server.getZkAddress(), TIMEOUT);
+
+      AbstractZkTestCase.tryCleanSolrZkNode(server.getZkHost());
+      AbstractZkTestCase.makeSolrZkNode(server.getZkHost());
+      ZkController.createClusterZkNodes(controllerClient);
+
+      reader = new ZkStateReader(controllerClient);
+      reader.createClusterStateWatchersAndUpdate();
+
+      // We did not create /collections -> this message will cause exception when Overseer try to flush the clusterstate
+      ZkNodeProps badMessage = new ZkNodeProps(Overseer.QUEUE_OPERATION, CollectionParams.CollectionAction.CREATE.toLower(),
+          "name", "collection1",
+          ZkStateReader.REPLICATION_FACTOR, "1",
+          ZkStateReader.NUM_SHARDS_PROP, "1",
+          DocCollection.STATE_FORMAT, "2",
+          "createNodeSet", "");
+      ZkNodeProps goodMessage = new ZkNodeProps(Overseer.QUEUE_OPERATION, CollectionParams.CollectionAction.CREATE.toLower(),
+          "name", "collection2",
+          ZkStateReader.REPLICATION_FACTOR, "1",
+          ZkStateReader.NUM_SHARDS_PROP, "1",
+          DocCollection.STATE_FORMAT, "1",
+          "createNodeSet", "");
+      ZkDistributedQueue workQueue = Overseer.getInternalWorkQueue(controllerClient, new Overseer.Stats());
+      workQueue.offer(Utils.toJSON(badMessage));
+      workQueue.offer(Utils.toJSON(goodMessage));
+      overseerClient = electNewOverseer(server.getZkAddress());
+      waitForCollections(reader, "collection2");
+
+      ZkDistributedQueue q = Overseer.getStateUpdateQueue(controllerClient);
+      q.offer(Utils.toJSON(badMessage));
+      q.offer(Utils.toJSON(goodMessage.plus("name", "collection3")));
+      waitForCollections(reader, "collection2", "collection3");
+      assertNotNull(reader.getClusterState().getCollectionOrNull("collection2"));
+      assertNotNull(reader.getClusterState().getCollectionOrNull("collection3"));
+
+      assertTrue(workQueue.peek() == null);
+      assertTrue(q.peek() == null);
+    } finally {
+      close(overseerClient);
+      close(controllerClient);
+      close(reader);
+      server.shutdown();
+    }
+  }
   
   @Test
   public void testShardLeaderChange() throws Exception {