diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParserTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParserTests.java
index f46bfa3e098..632f2cef7fb 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParserTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/DocumentParserTests.java
@@ -873,5 +873,8 @@ public class DocumentParserTests extends ESSingleNodeTestCase {
             mapper.parse("test", "type", "1", bytes)
         );
         assertTrue(e.getMessage(), e.getMessage().contains("cannot be added inside a document"));
+
+        BytesReference bytes2 = XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().field("foo._ttl", 0).endObject().bytes();
+        mapper.parse("test", "type", "1", bytes2); // parses without error
     }
 }