diff --git a/nova/api/openstack/common.py b/nova/api/openstack/common.py
index 0d419f205e00..01787712a65b 100644
--- a/nova/api/openstack/common.py
+++ b/nova/api/openstack/common.py
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@ def get_version_from_href(href):
         return '2'
 
 
-def check_img_metadata_quota_limit(context, metadata):
+def check_img_metadata_properties_quota(context, metadata):
     if metadata is None:
         return
     num_metadata = len(metadata)
@@ -279,6 +279,19 @@ def check_img_metadata_quota_limit(context, metadata):
         raise webob.exc.HTTPRequestEntityTooLarge(explanation=expl,
                                                 headers={'Retry-After': 0})
 
+    #  check the key length.
+    if isinstance(metadata, dict):
+        for key, value in metadata.iteritems():
+            if len(key) == 0:
+                expl = _("Image metadata key cannot be blank")
+                raise webob.exc.HTTPBadRequest(explanation=expl)
+            if len(key) > 255:
+                expl = _("Image metadata key too long")
+                raise webob.exc.HTTPBadRequest(explanation=expl)
+    else:
+        expl = _("Invalid image metadata")
+        raise webob.exc.HTTPBadRequest(explanation=expl)
+
 
 def dict_to_query_str(params):
     # TODO(throughnothing): we should just use urllib.urlencode instead of this
diff --git a/nova/api/openstack/compute/contrib/admin_actions.py b/nova/api/openstack/compute/contrib/admin_actions.py
index f7908f758e90..f9e661062dfa 100644
--- a/nova/api/openstack/compute/contrib/admin_actions.py
+++ b/nova/api/openstack/compute/contrib/admin_actions.py
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ class AdminActionsController(wsgi.Controller):
 
         props = {}
         metadata = entity.get('metadata', {})
-        common.check_img_metadata_quota_limit(context, metadata)
+        common.check_img_metadata_properties_quota(context, metadata)
         try:
             props.update(metadata)
         except ValueError:
diff --git a/nova/api/openstack/compute/image_metadata.py b/nova/api/openstack/compute/image_metadata.py
index d79692f2207a..145e0395eb46 100644
--- a/nova/api/openstack/compute/image_metadata.py
+++ b/nova/api/openstack/compute/image_metadata.py
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ class Controller(object):
         if 'metadata' in body:
             for key, value in body['metadata'].iteritems():
                 image['properties'][key] = value
-        common.check_img_metadata_quota_limit(context, image['properties'])
+        common.check_img_metadata_properties_quota(context,
+                                                   image['properties'])
         self.image_service.update(context, image_id, image, None)
         return dict(metadata=image['properties'])
 
@@ -88,7 +89,8 @@ class Controller(object):
 
         image = self._get_image(context, image_id)
         image['properties'][id] = meta[id]
-        common.check_img_metadata_quota_limit(context, image['properties'])
+        common.check_img_metadata_properties_quota(context,
+                                                   image['properties'])
         self.image_service.update(context, image_id, image, None)
         return dict(meta=meta)
 
@@ -98,7 +100,7 @@ class Controller(object):
         context = req.environ['nova.context']
         image = self._get_image(context, image_id)
         metadata = body.get('metadata', {})
-        common.check_img_metadata_quota_limit(context, metadata)
+        common.check_img_metadata_properties_quota(context, metadata)
         image['properties'] = metadata
         self.image_service.update(context, image_id, image, None)
         return dict(metadata=metadata)
diff --git a/nova/api/openstack/compute/servers.py b/nova/api/openstack/compute/servers.py
index 635123fff06e..9aa637cc9825 100644
--- a/nova/api/openstack/compute/servers.py
+++ b/nova/api/openstack/compute/servers.py
@@ -1093,7 +1093,7 @@ class Controller(wsgi.Controller):
 
         props = {}
         metadata = entity.get('metadata', {})
-        common.check_img_metadata_quota_limit(context, metadata)
+        common.check_img_metadata_properties_quota(context, metadata)
         try:
             props.update(metadata)
         except ValueError:
diff --git a/nova/tests/api/openstack/test_common.py b/nova/tests/api/openstack/test_common.py
index f36a530c1923..5e1e6e0bae75 100644
--- a/nova/tests/api/openstack/test_common.py
+++ b/nova/tests/api/openstack/test_common.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ from nova import exception
 from nova import test
 from nova.api.openstack import common
 from nova.api.openstack import xmlutil
+from nova.tests import utils as test_utils
 
 
 NS = "{http://docs.openstack.org/compute/api/v1.1}"
@@ -328,6 +329,34 @@ class MiscFunctionsTest(test.TestCase):
         else:
             self.fail("webob.exc.HTTPConflict was not raised")
 
+    def test_check_img_metadata_properties_quota_valid_metadata(self):
+        ctxt = test_utils.get_test_admin_context()
+        metadata1 = {"key": "value"}
+        actual = common.check_img_metadata_properties_quota(ctxt, metadata1)
+        self.assertEqual(actual, None)
+
+        metadata2 = {"key": "v" * 260}
+        actual = common.check_img_metadata_properties_quota(ctxt, metadata2)
+        self.assertEqual(actual, None)
+
+        metadata3 = {"key": ""}
+        actual = common.check_img_metadata_properties_quota(ctxt, metadata3)
+        self.assertEqual(actual, None)
+
+    def test_check_img_metadata_properties_quota_inv_metadata(self):
+        ctxt = test_utils.get_test_admin_context()
+        metadata1 = {"a" * 260: "value"}
+        self.assertRaises(webob.exc.HTTPBadRequest,
+                common.check_img_metadata_properties_quota, ctxt, metadata1)
+
+        metadata2 = {"": "value"}
+        self.assertRaises(webob.exc.HTTPBadRequest,
+                common.check_img_metadata_properties_quota, ctxt, metadata2)
+
+        metadata3 = "invalid metadata"
+        self.assertRaises(webob.exc.HTTPBadRequest,
+                common.check_img_metadata_properties_quota, ctxt, metadata3)
+
 
 class MetadataXMLDeserializationTest(test.TestCase):