diff --git a/web/app/controllers/api_users_controller.rb b/web/app/controllers/api_users_controller.rb
index d5319bf0d..166561ecc 100644
--- a/web/app/controllers/api_users_controller.rb
+++ b/web/app/controllers/api_users_controller.rb
@@ -660,6 +660,11 @@ class ApiUsersController < ApiController
     @dump.crash_context = params[:crash_context]
     crash_date = params[:crash_date]
 
+    # make sure client is passing version information - if not its too old
+    unless (vdata = params[:version]).present?
+      render(json: {message: "blank version data #{vdata}"}, status: :unprocessable_entity) && return
+    end
+
     unless @dump.save
       # There are at least some conditions on valid dumps (need client_type)
       response.status = :unprocessable_entity