diff --git a/core/corehttp/p2p_proxy.go b/core/corehttp/p2p_proxy.go
index 0a615c33a..1dee5055a 100644
--- a/core/corehttp/p2p_proxy.go
+++ b/core/corehttp/p2p_proxy.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	core "github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/core"
+	peer "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core/peer"
 
 	protocol "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core/protocol"
 	p2phttp "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-http"
@@ -60,12 +61,16 @@ func parseRequest(request *http.Request) (*proxyRequest, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Invalid request path '%s'", path)
 	}
 
+	if _, err := peer.Decode(split[2]); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Invalid request path '%s'", path)
+	}
+
 	if split[3] == "http" {
 		return &proxyRequest{split[2], protocol.ID("/http"), split[4]}, nil
 	}
 
 	split = strings.SplitN(path, "/", 7)
-	if split[3] != "x" || split[5] != "http" {
+	if len(split) < 7 || split[3] != "x" || split[5] != "http" {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Invalid request path '%s'", path)
 	}
 
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0184-http-proxy-over-p2p.sh b/test/sharness/t0184-http-proxy-over-p2p.sh
index c1dfcb1d4..9c5308277 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0184-http-proxy-over-p2p.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0184-http-proxy-over-p2p.sh
@@ -194,7 +194,12 @@ test_expect_success 'handle proxy http request invalid request' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'handle proxy http request unknown proxy peer ' '
-    curl_check_response_code 502 p2p/unknown_peer/http/index.txt
+    UNKNOWN_PEER="k51qzi5uqu5dlmbel1sd8rs4emr3bfosk9bm4eb42514r4lakt4oxw3a3fa2tm" &&
+    curl_check_response_code 502 p2p/$UNKNOWN_PEER/http/index.txt
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'handle proxy http request to invalid proxy peer ' '
+    curl_check_response_code 400 p2p/invalid_peer/http/index.txt
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'handle proxy http request to custom protocol' '