diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 3f50c4a6..3426897c 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
     <groupId>net.iponweb.disthene.reader</groupId>
     <artifactId>disthene-reader</artifactId>
     <packaging>jar</packaging>
-    <version>1.0.20</version>
+    <version>1.0.21</version>
     <name>disthene-reader</name>
     <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
     <dependencies>
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/iponweb/disthene/reader/service/index/IndexService.java b/src/main/java/net/iponweb/disthene/reader/service/index/IndexService.java
index 85f33026..71e27519 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/iponweb/disthene/reader/service/index/IndexService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/iponweb/disthene/reader/service/index/IndexService.java
@@ -83,6 +83,10 @@ public List<String> getPaths(String tenant, List<String> wildcards) throws TooMu
     public String getPathsAsJsonArray(String tenant, String wildcard) throws TooMuchDataExpectedException {
         String regEx = WildcardUtil.getPathsRegExFromWildcard(wildcard);
 
+        if (!WildcardUtil.regexIsValid(regEx)) {
+            return "[]";
+        }
+
         SearchResponse response = client.prepareSearch(indexConfiguration.getIndex())
                 .setSize(indexConfiguration.getMaxPaths())
                 .setQuery(QueryBuilders.filteredQuery(
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/iponweb/disthene/reader/utils/WildcardUtil.java b/src/main/java/net/iponweb/disthene/reader/utils/WildcardUtil.java
index f4264eb3..4b7593ff 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/iponweb/disthene/reader/utils/WildcardUtil.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/iponweb/disthene/reader/utils/WildcardUtil.java
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
 
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+import java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException;
+
 /**
  * @author Andrei Ivanov
  */
@@ -17,4 +20,13 @@ public static String getPathsRegExFromWildcard(String wildcard) {
                 .replace("}", ")").replace(",", "|").replace("?", "[^\\.]");
     }
 
+    public static boolean regexIsValid(String regex) {
+        try {
+            Pattern.compile(regex);
+            return true;
+        } catch (PatternSyntaxException exception) {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
 }