diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/admin/ReassignPartitionsCommand.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/admin/ReassignPartitionsCommand.scala
index ad7b5454172..9cc1d27d97d 100755
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/admin/ReassignPartitionsCommand.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/admin/ReassignPartitionsCommand.scala
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ import scala.collection.{Map, Seq, mutable}
 import scala.compat.java8.OptionConverters._
 import scala.math.Ordered.orderingToOrdered
 
+
 object ReassignPartitionsCommand extends Logging {
   private[admin] val AnyLogDir = "any"
 
@@ -1622,14 +1623,15 @@ object ReassignPartitionsCommand extends Logging {
   }
 
   def parsePartitionReassignmentData(jsonData: String): (Seq[(TopicPartition, Seq[Int])], Map[TopicPartitionReplica, String]) = {
-    Json.parseFull(jsonData) match {
-      case Some(js) =>
+    Json.tryParseFull(jsonData) match {
+      case Right(js) =>
         val version = js.asJsonObject.get("version") match {
           case Some(jsonValue) => jsonValue.to[Int]
           case None => EarliestVersion
         }
         parsePartitionReassignmentData(version, js)
-      case None => throw new AdminOperationException("The input string is not a valid JSON")
+      case Left(f) =>
+        throw new AdminOperationException(f)
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/Json.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/Json.scala
index 48bdc85dbb9..049941cd01d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/Json.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/Json.scala
@@ -16,8 +16,9 @@
  */
 package kafka.utils
 
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.{JsonParseException, JsonProcessingException}
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.MissingNode
 import kafka.utils.json.JsonValue
 
 import scala.reflect.ClassTag
@@ -32,9 +33,7 @@ object Json {
   /**
    * Parse a JSON string into a JsonValue if possible. `None` is returned if `input` is not valid JSON.
    */
-  def parseFull(input: String): Option[JsonValue] =
-    try Option(mapper.readTree(input)).map(JsonValue(_))
-    catch { case _: JsonProcessingException => None }
+  def parseFull(input: String): Option[JsonValue] = tryParseFull(input).toOption
 
   /**
    * Parse a JSON string into either a generic type T, or a JsonProcessingException in the case of
@@ -64,6 +63,19 @@ object Json {
     catch { case e: JsonProcessingException => Left(e) }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Parse a JSON string into a JsonValue if possible. It returns an `Either` where `Left` will be an exception and
+    * `Right` is the `JsonValue`.
+   * @param input a JSON string to parse
+   * @return An `Either` which in case of `Left` means an exception and `Right` is the actual return value.
+   */
+  def tryParseFull(input: String): Either[JsonProcessingException, JsonValue] =
+    if (input == null || input.isEmpty)
+      Left(new JsonParseException(MissingNode.getInstance().traverse(), "The input string shouldn't be empty"))
+    else
+      try Right(mapper.readTree(input)).map(JsonValue(_))
+      catch { case e: JsonProcessingException => Left(e) }
+
   /**
    * Encode an object into a JSON string. This method accepts any type supported by Jackson's ObjectMapper in
    * the default configuration. That is, Java collections are supported, but Scala collections are not (to avoid
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/admin/ReassignPartitionsUnitTest.scala b/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/admin/ReassignPartitionsUnitTest.scala
index 1429a41ad2f..ba4b709eb3f 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/admin/ReassignPartitionsUnitTest.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/admin/ReassignPartitionsUnitTest.scala
@@ -659,4 +659,18 @@ class ReassignPartitionsUnitTest {
     assertTrue("Expected the string to start with %s, but it was %s".format(prefix, str),
       str.startsWith(prefix))
   }
+
+  @Test
+  def testPropagateInvalidJsonError(): Unit = {
+    val adminClient = new MockAdminClient.Builder().numBrokers(4).build()
+    try {
+      addTopics(adminClient)
+      assertStartsWith("Unexpected character",
+        assertThrows(
+          classOf[AdminOperationException], () => executeAssignment(adminClient, additional = false,
+            "{invalid_json")).getMessage)
+    } finally {
+      adminClient.close()
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/utils/JsonTest.scala b/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/utils/JsonTest.scala
index 60d0234057a..57582a4eabf 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/utils/JsonTest.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/utils/JsonTest.scala
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ package kafka.utils
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.{JsonParseException, JsonProcessingException}
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node._
 import kafka.utils.JsonTest.TestObject
@@ -40,25 +40,34 @@ class JsonTest {
   def testJsonParse(): Unit = {
     val jnf = JsonNodeFactory.instance
 
-    assertEquals(Json.parseFull("{}"), Some(JsonValue(new ObjectNode(jnf))))
+    assertEquals(Some(JsonValue(new ObjectNode(jnf))), Json.parseFull("{}"))
+    assertEquals(Right(JsonValue(new ObjectNode(jnf))), Json.tryParseFull("{}"))
+    assertEquals(classOf[Left[JsonProcessingException, JsonValue]], Json.tryParseFull(null).getClass)
+    assertThrows(classOf[IllegalArgumentException], () => Json.tryParseBytes(null))
 
-    assertEquals(Json.parseFull("""{"foo":"bar"s}"""), None)
+    assertEquals(None, Json.parseFull(""))
+    assertEquals(classOf[Left[JsonProcessingException, JsonValue]], Json.tryParseFull("").getClass)
+
+    assertEquals(None, Json.parseFull("""{"foo":"bar"s}"""))
+    val tryRes = Json.tryParseFull("""{"foo":"bar"s}""")
+    assertTrue(tryRes.isInstanceOf[Left[_, JsonValue]])
 
     val objectNode = new ObjectNode(
       jnf,
       Map[String, JsonNode]("foo" -> new TextNode("bar"), "is_enabled" -> BooleanNode.TRUE).asJava
     )
-    assertEquals(Json.parseFull("""{"foo":"bar", "is_enabled":true}"""), Some(JsonValue(objectNode)))
+    assertEquals(Some(JsonValue(objectNode)), Json.parseFull("""{"foo":"bar", "is_enabled":true}"""))
+    assertEquals(Right(JsonValue(objectNode)), Json.tryParseFull("""{"foo":"bar", "is_enabled":true}"""))
 
     val arrayNode = new ArrayNode(jnf)
     Vector(1, 2, 3).map(new IntNode(_)).foreach(arrayNode.add)
-    assertEquals(Json.parseFull("[1, 2, 3]"), Some(JsonValue(arrayNode)))
+    assertEquals(Some(JsonValue(arrayNode)), Json.parseFull("[1, 2, 3]"))
 
     // Test with encoder that properly escapes backslash and quotes
     val map = Map("foo1" -> """bar1\,bar2""", "foo2" -> """\bar""").asJava
     val encoded = Json.encodeAsString(map)
     val decoded = Json.parseFull(encoded)
-    assertEquals(Json.parseFull("""{"foo1":"bar1\\,bar2", "foo2":"\\bar"}"""), decoded)
+    assertEquals(decoded, Json.parseFull("""{"foo1":"bar1\\,bar2", "foo2":"\\bar"}"""))
   }
 
   @Test