diff --git a/ui/app/components/secret-edit.js b/ui/app/components/secret-edit.js
index ff115506a379..8d673dc7bef3 100644
--- a/ui/app/components/secret-edit.js
+++ b/ui/app/components/secret-edit.js
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ export default Ember.Component.extend(FocusOnInsertMixin, {
   // use a named action here so we don't have to pass one in
   // this will bubble to the route
   toggleAdvancedEdit: 'toggleAdvancedEdit',
+  error: null,
 
   codemirrorString: null,
 
@@ -79,7 +80,8 @@ export default Ember.Component.extend(FocusOnInsertMixin, {
     'key.isFolder',
     'key.isError',
     'key.flagsIsInvalid',
-    'hasLintError'
+    'hasLintError',
+    'error'
   ),
 
   basicModeDisabled: computed('secretDataIsAdvanced', 'showAdvancedMode', function() {
@@ -242,10 +244,15 @@ export default Ember.Component.extend(FocusOnInsertMixin, {
     },
 
     codemirrorUpdated(val, codemirror) {
+      this.set('error', null);
       codemirror.performLint();
       const noErrors = codemirror.state.lint.marked.length === 0;
       if (noErrors) {
-        this.get('secretData').fromJSONString(val);
+        try {
+          this.get('secretData').fromJSONString(val);
+        } catch (e) {
+          this.set('error', e.message);
+        }
       }
       this.set('hasLintError', !noErrors);
       this.set('codemirrorString', val);
diff --git a/ui/app/lib/kv-object.js b/ui/app/lib/kv-object.js
index 4ca3ed136c44..4c6ec8a3b959 100644
--- a/ui/app/lib/kv-object.js
+++ b/ui/app/lib/kv-object.js
@@ -1,13 +1,18 @@
 import Ember from 'ember';
 
+const { typeOf, guidFor } = Ember;
+
 export default Ember.ArrayProxy.extend({
   fromJSON(json) {
-    const contents = Object.keys(json || []).map(key => {
+    if (json && typeOf(json) !== 'object') {
+      throw new Error('Vault expects data to be formatted as an JSON object.');
+    }
+    let contents = Object.keys(json || []).map(key => {
       let obj = {
         name: key,
         value: json[key],
       };
-      Ember.guidFor(obj);
+      guidFor(obj);
       return obj;
     });
     this.setObjects(
diff --git a/ui/app/templates/partials/secret-form-create.hbs b/ui/app/templates/partials/secret-form-create.hbs
index 535e956cfc26..852e1d68321d 100644
--- a/ui/app/templates/partials/secret-form-create.hbs
+++ b/ui/app/templates/partials/secret-form-create.hbs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <form class="{{if showAdvancedMode 'advanced-edit' 'simple-edit'}}" onsubmit={{action "createOrUpdateKey" "create"}} onchange={{action "handleChange"}}>
   <div class="field box is-fullwidth is-sideless is-marginless">
     <NamespaceReminder @mode="create" @noun="secret" />
-    {{message-error model=key}}
+    {{message-error model=key errorMessage=error}}
     <label class="label is-font-weight-normal" for="kv-key">Path for this secret</label>
     <div class="field has-addons">
       {{#if (not-eq key.initialParentKey '') }}
diff --git a/ui/app/templates/partials/secret-form-edit.hbs b/ui/app/templates/partials/secret-form-edit.hbs
index efd9ce378da8..5b1495fb423d 100644
--- a/ui/app/templates/partials/secret-form-edit.hbs
+++ b/ui/app/templates/partials/secret-form-edit.hbs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 <form onsubmit={{action "createOrUpdateKey" "update"}} onchange={{action "handleChange"}}>
   <div class="box is-sideless is-fullwidth is-marginless">
-    {{message-error model=key}}
+    {{message-error model=key errorMessage=error}}
     <NamespaceReminder @mode="edit" @noun="secret" />
     {{#unless showAdvancedMode}}
       <div class="table info-table-row-header">
diff --git a/ui/tests/integration/components/secret-edit-test.js b/ui/tests/integration/components/secret-edit-test.js
index 13d069d7a9b3..4459162038ee 100644
--- a/ui/tests/integration/components/secret-edit-test.js
+++ b/ui/tests/integration/components/secret-edit-test.js
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@ import hbs from 'htmlbars-inline-precompile';
 
 moduleForComponent('secret-edit', 'Integration | Component | secret edit', {
   integration: true,
+  beforeEach() {
+    this.inject.service('code-mirror', { as: 'codeMirror' });
+  },
 });
 
 test('it disables JSON toggle in show mode when is an advanced format', function(assert) {
@@ -19,7 +22,7 @@ test('it disables JSON toggle in show mode when is an advanced format', function
   assert.dom('[data-test-secret-json-toggle]').isDisabled();
 });
 
-test('it does JSON toggle in show mode when is', function(assert) {
+test('it does JSON toggle in show mode when showing string data', function(assert) {
   this.set('mode', 'show');
   this.set('key', {
     secretData: {
@@ -32,3 +35,38 @@ test('it does JSON toggle in show mode when is', function(assert) {
   this.render(hbs`{{secret-edit mode=mode key=key }}`);
   assert.dom('[data-test-secret-json-toggle]').isNotDisabled();
 });
+
+test('it shows an error when creating and data is not an object', function(assert) {
+  this.set('mode', 'create');
+  this.set('key', {
+    secretData: {
+      int: '2',
+      null: 'null',
+      float: '1.234',
+    },
+  });
+
+  this.render(hbs`{{secret-edit mode=mode key=key preferAdvancedEdit=true }}`);
+  let instance = this.codeMirror.instanceFor(this.$('[data-test-component=json-editor]').attr('id'));
+  instance.setValue(JSON.stringify([{ foo: 'bar' }]));
+  assert.dom('[data-test-error]').includesText('Vault expects data to be formatted as an JSON object');
+});
+
+test('it shows an error when editing and the data is not an object', function(assert) {
+  this.set('mode', 'edit');
+  this.set('capabilities', {
+    canUpdate: true,
+  });
+  this.set('key', {
+    secretData: {
+      int: '2',
+      null: 'null',
+      float: '1.234',
+    },
+  });
+
+  this.render(hbs`{{secret-edit capabilities=capabilities mode=mode key=key preferAdvancedEdit=true }}`);
+  let instance = this.codeMirror.instanceFor(this.$('[data-test-component=json-editor]').attr('id'));
+  instance.setValue(JSON.stringify([{ foo: 'bar' }]));
+  assert.dom('[data-test-error]').includesText('Vault expects data to be formatted as an JSON object');
+});
diff --git a/ui/tests/unit/lib/kv-object-test.js b/ui/tests/unit/lib/kv-object-test.js
index 1962829fd63c..6192bcd5992e 100644
--- a/ui/tests/unit/lib/kv-object-test.js
+++ b/ui/tests/unit/lib/kv-object-test.js
@@ -37,6 +37,17 @@ fromJSONTests.forEach(function([name, input, content]) {
   });
 });
 
+test(`fromJSON: non-object input`, function(assert) {
+  let input = [{ foo: 'bar' }];
+  assert.throws(
+    () => {
+      KVObject.create({ content: [] }).fromJSON(input);
+    },
+    /Vault expects data to be formatted as an JSON object/,
+    'throws when non-object input is used to construct the KVObject'
+  );
+});
+
 fromJSONTests.forEach(function([name, input, content]) {
   test(`fromJSONString: ${name}`, function(assert) {
     let inputString = JSON.stringify(input, null, 2);