diff --git a/src/common/io_hdr.c b/src/common/io_hdr.c
index c855c28e992dc6b697bade6db533479c23082b75..f6d8cc2566128ebae9b3066aaf40b53183a087f7 100644
--- a/src/common/io_hdr.c
+++ b/src/common/io_hdr.c
@@ -68,7 +68,8 @@ io_hdr_unpack(io_hdr_t *hdr, Buf buffer)
 
 	safe_unpackmem(hdr->key, &val, buffer);
 
-	xassert(val == SLURM_IO_KEY_SIZE);
+	if (val != SLURM_IO_KEY_SIZE)
+		goto unpack_error;
 
 	safe_unpack32(&hdr->taskid, buffer);
 	safe_unpack16(&hdr->type, buffer);