diff --git a/lib/addoninfo.cpp b/lib/addoninfo.cpp
index cfe720b81..c96543f75 100644
--- a/lib/addoninfo.cpp
+++ b/lib/addoninfo.cpp
@@ -87,6 +87,11 @@ static std::string parseAddonInfo(AddonInfo& addoninfo, const picojson::value &j
         return "";
     }
 
+    if (!obj.count("script") || !obj["script"].is<std::string>())
+    {
+        return "Loading " + fileName + " failed. script must be set to a string value.";
+    }
+
     return addoninfo.getAddonInfo(obj["script"].get<std::string>(), exename);
 }
 
diff --git a/test/cli/test-other.py b/test/cli/test-other.py
index 819f1d6a6..a183161fc 100644
--- a/test/cli/test-other.py
+++ b/test/cli/test-other.py
@@ -278,6 +278,22 @@ extern const char* f()
     assert stderr == '{}:4:12: warning: strerror is MT-unsafe [threadsafety-unsafe-call]\n'.format(test_file)
 
 
+def test_addon_invalidjson(tmpdir):
+    addon_file = os.path.join(tmpdir, 'invalid.json')
+    with open(addon_file, 'wt') as f:
+        f.write("""
+{
+    "Script": "addons/something.py"
+}
+                """)
+
+    args = ['--addon={}'.format(addon_file), '--enable=all', 'nonexistent.cpp']
+
+    exitcode, stdout, stderr = cppcheck(args)
+    assert exitcode != 0
+    assert stdout == 'Loading {} failed. script must be set to a string value.\n'.format(addon_file)
+
+
 def test_addon_naming(tmpdir):
     # the addon does nothing without a config
     addon_file = os.path.join(tmpdir, 'naming1.json')