diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginInfo.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginInfo.java
index 20b5fe28fff..c305893fa56 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginInfo.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginInfo.java
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ public class PluginInfo implements Streamable, ToXContent {
             if (javaVersionString == null) {
                 throw new IllegalArgumentException("Property [java.version] is missing for jvm plugin [" + name + "]");
             }
+            JarHell.checkVersionFormat(javaVersionString);
             JarHell.checkJavaVersion(name, javaVersionString);
             isolated = Boolean.parseBoolean(props.getProperty("isolated", "true"));
             classname = props.getProperty("classname");
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginInfoTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginInfoTests.java
index 64b2ae59312..58180b277f8 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginInfoTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/plugins/PluginInfoTests.java
@@ -176,6 +176,25 @@ public class PluginInfoTests extends ESTestCase {
         }
     }
 
+    public void testReadFromPropertiesBadJavaVersionFormat() throws Exception {
+        String pluginName = "fake-plugin";
+        Path pluginDir = createTempDir().resolve(pluginName);
+        writeProperties(pluginDir,
+                "description", "fake desc",
+                "name", pluginName,
+                "elasticsearch.version", Version.CURRENT.toString(),
+                "java.version", "1.7.0_80",
+                "classname", "FakePlugin",
+                "version", "1.0",
+                "jvm", "true");
+        try {
+            PluginInfo.readFromProperties(pluginDir);
+            fail("expected bad java version format exception");
+        } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
+            assertTrue(e.getMessage(), e.getMessage().equals("version string must be a sequence of nonnegative decimal integers separated by \".\"'s and may have leading zeros but was 1.7.0_80"));
+        }
+    }
+
     public void testReadFromPropertiesBogusElasticsearchVersion() throws Exception {
         Path pluginDir = createTempDir().resolve("fake-plugin");
         writeProperties(pluginDir,
diff --git a/dev-tools/src/main/resources/plugin-metadata/plugin-descriptor.properties b/dev-tools/src/main/resources/plugin-metadata/plugin-descriptor.properties
index 09b68b7a24d..67d139ede0a 100644
--- a/dev-tools/src/main/resources/plugin-metadata/plugin-descriptor.properties
+++ b/dev-tools/src/main/resources/plugin-metadata/plugin-descriptor.properties
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ jvm=${elasticsearch.plugin.jvm}
 classname=${elasticsearch.plugin.classname}
 #
 # 'java.version' version of java the code is built against
+# use the system property java.specification.version
+# version string must be a sequence of nonnegative decimal integers
+# separated by "."'s and may have leading zeros
 java.version=${maven.compiler.target}
 #
 # 'elasticsearch.version' version of elasticsearch compiled against