diff --git a/etcd/common/common.go b/etcd/common/common.go
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/etcd/common/common.go
+++ b/etcd/common/common.go
@@ -170,6 +170,12 @@ func Version(url string, options map[string]string) (string, error) {
 		// Probably a version less than 2.3. Default to using v2 apis
 		return kvdb.EtcdBaseVersion, nil
 	}
+	if version.Server == "" {
+		// This should never happen in an ideal scenario unless
+		// etcd messes up. To avoid a crash further in this code
+		// we return an error
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("Unable to determine etcd version. Got an empty response from etcd.")
+	}
 	if version.Server[0] == '2' || version.Server[0] == '1' {
 		return kvdb.EtcdBaseVersion, nil
 	} else if version.Server[0] == '3' {
Handle a case where etcd might return an empty version