diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/Descriptor.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/Descriptor.java
index 504a606eab..2c7b77007b 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/Descriptor.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/Descriptor.java
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ public class Descriptor
      * @return True if the given version string is not empty, and
      * contains all lowercase letters, as defined by java.lang.Character.
      */
-    private static boolean versionValidate(String ver)
+    static boolean versionValidate(String ver)
     {
         if (ver.length() < 1) return false;
         for (char ch : ver.toCharArray())
diff --git a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/LegacySSTableTest.java b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/LegacySSTableTest.java
index 99f4a838c3..cc381afc10 100644
--- a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/LegacySSTableTest.java
+++ b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/io/sstable/LegacySSTableTest.java
@@ -92,7 +92,8 @@ public class LegacySSTableTest extends CleanupHelper
     public void testVersions() throws IOException
     {
         for (File version : LEGACY_SSTABLE_ROOT.listFiles())
-            testVersion(version.getName());
+            if (Descriptor.versionValidate(version.getName()))
+                testVersion(version.getName());
     }
 
     public void testVersion(String version)