diff --git a/marvel/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/marvel/support/VersionUtils.java b/marvel/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/marvel/support/VersionUtils.java
index 9d917ee737b..51a2c55bd4e 100644
--- a/marvel/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/marvel/support/VersionUtils.java
+++ b/marvel/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/marvel/support/VersionUtils.java
@@ -17,11 +17,13 @@ import java.util.regex.Pattern;
  */
 public final class VersionUtils {
 
+    public static final String VERSION_NUMBER_FIELD = "number";
+
     private VersionUtils() {
     }
 
     public static Version parseVersion(byte[] text) {
-        return parseVersion("", new String(text, Charset.forName("UTF-8")));
+        return parseVersion(VERSION_NUMBER_FIELD, new String(text, Charset.forName("UTF-8")));
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/marvel/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/marvel/support/VersionUtilsTests.java b/marvel/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/marvel/support/VersionUtilsTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c00a3e1004f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/marvel/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/marvel/support/VersionUtilsTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License;
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the Elastic License.
+ */
+package org.elasticsearch.marvel.support;
+
+import org.elasticsearch.Version;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.ESTestCase;
+
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+
+public class VersionUtilsTests extends ESTestCase {
+
+    public void testParseVersion() {
+        List<Version> versions = randomSubsetOf(9, Version.V_0_18_0, Version.V_0_19_0, Version.V_1_0_1, Version.V_1_2_3, Version.V_1_3_2, Version.V_1_4_6, Version.V_1_6_3, Version.V_1_7_2, Version.V_2_0_0);
+        for (Version version : versions) {
+            String output = createOutput(VersionUtils.VERSION_NUMBER_FIELD, version.number());
+            assertThat(VersionUtils.parseVersion(output.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)), equalTo(version));
+            assertThat(VersionUtils.parseVersion(VersionUtils.VERSION_NUMBER_FIELD, output), equalTo(version));
+        }
+    }
+
+    private String createOutput(String fieldName, String value) {
+        return "{\n" +
+                "  \"name\" : \"Blind Faith\",\n" +
+                "  \"cluster_name\" : \"elasticsearch\",\n" +
+                "  \"version\" : {\n" +
+                "    \"" + fieldName + "\" : \"" + value + "\",\n" +
+                "    \"build_hash\" : \"4092d253dddda0ff1ff3d1c09ac7678e757843f9\",\n" +
+                "    \"build_timestamp\" : \"2015-10-13T08:53:10Z\",\n" +
+                "    \"build_snapshot\" : true,\n" +
+                "    \"lucene_version\" : \"5.2.1\"\n" +
+                "  },\n" +
+                "  \"tagline\" : \"You Know, for Search\"\n" +
+                "}\n";
+    }
+}