diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java
index cec466dc41398..04d515e7af11d 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetadata.java
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.block.ClusterBlockLevel;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNodeFilters;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.allocation.IndexMetadataUpdater;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContentFragment;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentHelper;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParserUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.ImmutableOpenIntMap;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.ImmutableOpenMap;
@@ -34,12 +41,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Setting;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Setting.Property;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContentFragment;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentHelper;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.gateway.MetadataStateFormat;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.Index;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.MapperService;
@@ -1502,16 +1503,12 @@ public static IndexMetadata fromXContent(XContentParser parser) throws IOExcepti
             if (parser.currentToken() == XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {  // on a start object move to next token
                 parser.nextToken();
             }
-            if (parser.currentToken() != XContentParser.Token.FIELD_NAME) {
-                throw new IllegalArgumentException("expected field name but got a " + parser.currentToken());
-            }
+            XContentParserUtils.ensureExpectedToken(XContentParser.Token.FIELD_NAME, parser.currentToken(), parser);
             Builder builder = new Builder(parser.currentName());
 
             String currentFieldName = null;
             XContentParser.Token token = parser.nextToken();
-            if (token != XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {
-                throw new IllegalArgumentException("expected object but got a " + token);
-            }
+            XContentParserUtils.ensureExpectedToken(XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT, token, parser);
             boolean mappingVersion = false;
             boolean settingsVersion = false;
             boolean aliasesVersion = false;
@@ -1594,11 +1591,8 @@ public static IndexMetadata fromXContent(XContentParser parser) throws IOExcepti
                     } else if (KEY_PRIMARY_TERMS.equals(currentFieldName)) {
                         LongArrayList list = new LongArrayList();
                         while ((token = parser.nextToken()) != XContentParser.Token.END_ARRAY) {
-                            if (token == XContentParser.Token.VALUE_NUMBER) {
-                                list.add(parser.longValue());
-                            } else {
-                                throw new IllegalStateException("found a non-numeric value under [" + KEY_PRIMARY_TERMS + "]");
-                            }
+                            XContentParserUtils.ensureExpectedToken(XContentParser.Token.VALUE_NUMBER, token, parser);
+                            list.add(parser.longValue());
                         }
                         builder.primaryTerms(list.toArray());
                     } else {
@@ -1629,7 +1623,7 @@ public static IndexMetadata fromXContent(XContentParser parser) throws IOExcepti
                     throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unexpected token " + token);
                 }
             }
-
+            XContentParserUtils.ensureExpectedToken(XContentParser.Token.END_OBJECT, parser.nextToken(), parser);
             Version indexVersion = indexCreatedVersion(builder.settings);
             if (Assertions.ENABLED && indexVersion.onOrAfter(Version.V_6_5_0)) {
                 assert mappingVersion : "mapping version should be present for indices created on or after 6.5.0";
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/Metadata.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/Metadata.java
index 0c4a9475b57a7..09e86fb74c0dc 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/Metadata.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/Metadata.java
@@ -28,6 +28,13 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.block.ClusterBlock;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.block.ClusterBlockLevel;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.coordination.CoordinationMetadata;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.NamedObjectNotFoundException;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContentFragment;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentHelper;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParserUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.UUIDs;
@@ -40,12 +47,6 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Setting;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Setting.Property;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.NamedObjectNotFoundException;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContentFragment;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentHelper;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
 import org.elasticsearch.gateway.MetadataStateFormat;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.Index;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.IndexNotFoundException;
@@ -1787,22 +1788,17 @@ public static Metadata fromXContent(XContentParser parser) throws IOException {
                 token = parser.nextToken();
                 if (token == XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {
                     // move to the field name (meta-data)
-                    token = parser.nextToken();
-                    if (token != XContentParser.Token.FIELD_NAME) {
-                        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Expected a field name but got " + token);
-                    }
+                    XContentParserUtils.ensureExpectedToken(XContentParser.Token.FIELD_NAME, parser.nextToken(), parser);
                     // move to the next object
                     token = parser.nextToken();
                 }
                 currentFieldName = parser.currentName();
             }
 
-            if ("meta-data".equals(parser.currentName()) == false) {
+            if ("meta-data".equals(currentFieldName) == false) {
                 throw new IllegalArgumentException("Expected [meta-data] as a field name but got " + currentFieldName);
             }
-            if (token != XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {
-                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Expected a START_OBJECT but got " + token);
-            }
+            XContentParserUtils.ensureExpectedToken(XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT, token, parser);
 
             while ((token = parser.nextToken()) != XContentParser.Token.END_OBJECT) {
                 if (token == XContentParser.Token.FIELD_NAME) {
@@ -1845,6 +1841,7 @@ public static Metadata fromXContent(XContentParser parser) throws IOException {
                     throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unexpected token " + token);
                 }
             }
+            XContentParserUtils.ensureExpectedToken(XContentParser.Token.END_OBJECT, parser.nextToken(), parser);
             return builder.build();
         }
     }
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/ChecksumBlobStoreFormat.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/ChecksumBlobStoreFormat.java
index 0425213c9a650..9882cd89caa61 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/ChecksumBlobStoreFormat.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/blobstore/ChecksumBlobStoreFormat.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParserUtils;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
 import org.elasticsearch.gateway.CorruptStateException;
 
@@ -108,6 +109,7 @@ public T deserialize(String repoName, NamedXContentRegistry namedXContentRegistr
                     .createParser(namedXContentRegistry, LoggingDeprecationHandler.INSTANCE, wrappedStream)
             ) {
                 result = reader.apply(repoName, parser);
+                XContentParserUtils.ensureExpectedToken(null, parser.nextToken(), parser);
             }
             deserializeMetaBlobInputStream.verifyFooter();
             return result;