diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/XContentSettingsLoader.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/XContentSettingsLoader.java
index 58bdae67768..3243f8fe631 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/XContentSettingsLoader.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/settings/loader/XContentSettingsLoader.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.common.settings.loader;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.ElasticSearchParseException;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
@@ -66,6 +67,9 @@ public abstract class XContentSettingsLoader implements SettingsLoader {
         if (token == null) {
             return settings;
         }
+        if (token != XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {
+            throw new ElasticSearchParseException("malformed, expected settings to start with 'object', instead was [" + token + "]");
+        }
         serializeObject(settings, sb, path, jp, null);
         return settings;
     }