diff --git a/node/build.gradle b/node/build.gradle
index f9005d9349..9716079360 100644
--- a/node/build.gradle
+++ b/node/build.gradle
@@ -90,6 +90,8 @@ dependencies {
     // TypeSafe Config: for simple and human friendly config files.
     compile "com.typesafe:config:1.3.0"
 
+    compile "org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.5.2"
+
     // Unit testing helpers.
     testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
     testCompile 'org.assertj:assertj-core:3.4.1'
diff --git a/node/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/node/servlets/DataUploadServlet.kt b/node/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/node/servlets/DataUploadServlet.kt
index e8551d2b98..6a0944dd16 100644
--- a/node/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/node/servlets/DataUploadServlet.kt
+++ b/node/src/main/kotlin/com/r3corda/node/servlets/DataUploadServlet.kt
@@ -35,6 +35,13 @@ class DataUploadServlet : HttpServlet() {
         val upload = ServletFileUpload()
         val iterator = upload.getItemIterator(req)
         val messages = ArrayList<String>()
+
+        if(!iterator.hasNext())
+        {
+            resp.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_BAD_REQUEST, "Got an upload request with no files")
+            return
+        }
+
         while (iterator.hasNext()) {
             val item = iterator.next()
             if (item.name != null && !acceptor.acceptableFileExtensions.any { item.name.endsWith(it) }) {