diff --git a/salt/master.py b/salt/master.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/salt/master.py
+++ b/salt/master.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 # Import python libs
 import ctypes
+from pprint import pformat
 import os
 import re
 import time
@@ -531,7 +532,23 @@ class Publisher(multiprocessing.Process):
                 try:
                     package = pull_sock.recv()
                     unpacked_package = salt.payload.unpackage(package)
-                    payload = unpacked_package['payload']
+                    try:
+                        payload = unpacked_package['payload']
+                    except (KeyError,) as exc:
+                        # somehow not packaged !?
+                        if 'enc' in payload and 'load' in payload:
+                            payload = package
+                        else:
+                            try:
+                                log.error(
+                                    "Invalid payload: {0}".format(
+                                        pformat(unpacked_package), exc_info=True))
+                            except Exception:
+                                # dont fail on a format error here !
+                                # but log something as it is hard to track down
+                                log.error("Received invalid payload", exc_info=True)
+                            raise exc
+
                     if self.opts['zmq_filtering']:
                         # if you have a specific topic list, use that
                         if 'topic_lst' in unpacked_package:
Smart test the payload form on rcv

This is a Workaround/Fix for #<I>