diff --git a/models/ssh_key.go b/models/ssh_key.go
index d1132bf0c61a0..edc6d45cd8673 100644
--- a/models/ssh_key.go
+++ b/models/ssh_key.go
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ func parseKeyString(content string) (string, error) {
 
 	var keyType, keyContent, keyComment string
 
-	if content[:len(ssh2keyStart)] == ssh2keyStart {
+	if strings.HasPrefix(content, ssh2keyStart) {
 		// Parse SSH2 file format.
 
 		// Transform all legal line endings to a single "\n".
diff --git a/models/ssh_key_test.go b/models/ssh_key_test.go
index 4bb612a67176c..95cd4eeb1a2f8 100644
--- a/models/ssh_key_test.go
+++ b/models/ssh_key_test.go
@@ -131,6 +131,19 @@ AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAICV0MGX/W9IvLA4FXpIuUcdDcbj5KX4syHgsTy7soVgf
 		_, err := CheckPublicKeyString(test.content)
 		assert.NoError(t, err)
 	}
+
+	for _, invalidKeys := range []struct {
+		content string
+	}{
+		{"test"},
+		{"---- NOT A REAL KEY ----"},
+		{"bad\nkey"},
+		{"\t\t:)\t\r\n"},
+		{"\r\ntest \r\ngitea\r\n\r\n"},
+	} {
+		_, err := CheckPublicKeyString(invalidKeys.content)
+		assert.Error(t, err)
+	}
 }
 
 func Test_calcFingerprint(t *testing.T) {