diff --git a/Puppetfile b/Puppetfile
index ee05fd472..44cfa4aa2 100644
--- a/Puppetfile
+++ b/Puppetfile
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ mod 'module-collectd',
   :git => 'https://github.com/pdxcat/puppet-module-collectd.git'
 
 mod 'module-data',
-  :commit => '0eead7f411f404b0a9a73bb161aac46c9fbe3219',
+  :commit => 'f62e245b08fd4003f13be13d75ea4a899fe8d3ea',
   :git => 'https://github.com/ripienaar/puppet-module-data.git'
 
 mod 'mongodb',
diff --git a/module-data/lib/hiera/backend/module_data_backend.rb b/module-data/lib/hiera/backend/module_data_backend.rb
index 94cd72ccb..94f4b4761 100644
--- a/module-data/lib/hiera/backend/module_data_backend.rb
+++ b/module-data/lib/hiera/backend/module_data_backend.rb
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ def initialize(cache=nil)
       def load_module_config(module_name, environment)
         default_config = {:hierarchy => ["common"]}
 
-        mod = Puppet::Module.find(module_name, environment)
+        mod = Puppet::Module.find(module_name) unless Puppet::Module.find(module_name, environment)
 
         return default_config unless mod
 
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def load_module_config(module_name, environment)
           Hiera.debug("Reading config from %s file" % module_config)
           config = load_data(module_config)
         end
-        
+      
         config["path"] = path
 
         default_config.merge(config)
@@ -35,7 +35,11 @@ def load_data(path)
         return {} unless File.exist?(path)
 
         @cache.read(path, Hash, {}) do |data|
-          YAML.load(data)
+          if path.end_with? "/hiera.yaml"
+            YAML.load(data, deserialize_symbols: true)
+          else
+            YAML.load(data)
+          end
         end
       end