diff --git a/nova/api/openstack/compute/contrib/keypairs.py b/nova/api/openstack/compute/contrib/keypairs.py
index dc0c74b1147c..e5e1e37fda73 100644
--- a/nova/api/openstack/compute/contrib/keypairs.py
+++ b/nova/api/openstack/compute/contrib/keypairs.py
@@ -70,8 +70,13 @@ class KeypairController(object):
 
         context = req.environ['nova.context']
         authorize(context)
-        params = body['keypair']
-        name = params['name']
+
+        try:
+            params = body['keypair']
+            name = params['name']
+        except KeyError:
+            msg = _("Invalid request body")
+            raise webob.exc.HTTPBadRequest(explanation=msg)
 
         try:
             if 'public_key' in params:
diff --git a/nova/tests/api/openstack/compute/contrib/test_keypairs.py b/nova/tests/api/openstack/compute/contrib/test_keypairs.py
index a14a64da5144..d7fc378c6687 100644
--- a/nova/tests/api/openstack/compute/contrib/test_keypairs.py
+++ b/nova/tests/api/openstack/compute/contrib/test_keypairs.py
@@ -295,6 +295,18 @@ class KeypairsTest(test.TestCase):
             self.assertTrue('key_name' in server_dict)
             self.assertEquals(server_dict['key_name'], '')
 
+    def test_keypair_create_with_invalid_keypairBody(self):
+        body = {'alpha': {'name': 'create_test'}}
+        req = webob.Request.blank('/v1.1/fake/os-keypairs')
+        req.method = 'POST'
+        req.body = jsonutils.dumps(body)
+        req.headers['Content-Type'] = 'application/json'
+        res = req.get_response(fakes.wsgi_app())
+        res_dict = jsonutils.loads(res.body)
+        self.assertEqual(res.status_int, 400)
+        self.assertEqual(res_dict['badRequest']['message'],
+                         "Invalid request body")
+
 
 class KeypairsXMLSerializerTest(test.TestCase):
     def setUp(self):