diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index a827292689..743183a2f7 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ phpMyAdmin - ChangeLog
 4.5.5.0 (not yet released)
 - issue        Undefined index: is_ajax_request
 - issue #11855 Fix password change on MariaDB 10.1 and newer
+- issue #11874 Validate version information before further processing it
 
 4.5.4.0 (not yet released)
 - issue #11724 live data edit of big sets is not working
diff --git a/libraries/VersionInformation.php b/libraries/VersionInformation.php
index e889b9c683..3821c7c834 100644
--- a/libraries/VersionInformation.php
+++ b/libraries/VersionInformation.php
@@ -87,13 +87,19 @@ class VersionInformation
             }
         }
 
+        /* Parse response */
         $data = json_decode($response);
-        if (is_object($data)
-            && ! empty($data->version)
-            && ! empty($data->releases)
-            && ! empty($data->date)
-            && $save
+
+        /* Basic sanity checking */
+        if (! is_object($data)
+            || empty($data->version)
+            || empty($data->releases)
+            || empty($data->date)
         ) {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        if ($save) {
             if (! isset($_SESSION) && ! defined('TESTSUITE')) {
                 ini_set('session.use_only_cookies', 'false');
                 ini_set('session.use_cookies', 'false');