diff --git a/prospero-common/src/main/java/org/wildfly/prospero/ProsperoLogger.java b/prospero-common/src/main/java/org/wildfly/prospero/ProsperoLogger.java
index 65d620c82..2cc0efcf1 100644
--- a/prospero-common/src/main/java/org/wildfly/prospero/ProsperoLogger.java
+++ b/prospero-common/src/main/java/org/wildfly/prospero/ProsperoLogger.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 import org.wildfly.prospero.api.exceptions.NoChannelException;
 import org.wildfly.prospero.api.exceptions.ProvisioningRuntimeException;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
@@ -362,4 +363,7 @@ public interface ProsperoLogger extends BasicLogger {
     @Message(id = 263, value = "Unable to read the candidate properties file %s.")
     @LogMessage(level = Logger.Level.ERROR)
     void unableToReadChannelNames(String fileName, @Cause Exception e);
+
+    @Message(id = 264, value = "Bad artifact record format in the cache descriptor, line %d: '%s'")
+    IOException unableToReadArtifactCache(int row, String line, @Cause Exception e);
 }
diff --git a/prospero-common/src/main/java/org/wildfly/prospero/galleon/ArtifactCache.java b/prospero-common/src/main/java/org/wildfly/prospero/galleon/ArtifactCache.java
index 5a215afd6..fafefdb4c 100644
--- a/prospero-common/src/main/java/org/wildfly/prospero/galleon/ArtifactCache.java
+++ b/prospero-common/src/main/java/org/wildfly/prospero/galleon/ArtifactCache.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 import org.jboss.galleon.util.IoUtils;
 import org.jboss.logging.Logger;
 import org.wildfly.channel.MavenArtifact;
+import org.wildfly.prospero.ProsperoLogger;
 import org.wildfly.prospero.metadata.ProsperoMetadataUtils;
 
 import java.io.BufferedWriter;
@@ -201,10 +202,14 @@ private void init() throws IOException {
         Path artifactLog = cacheDir.resolve(ArtifactCache.CACHE_FILENAME);
 
         if (Files.exists(artifactLog)) {
+            int row = 0;
+            final List<String> lines = Files.readAllLines(artifactLog);
             try {
-                final List<String> lines = Files.readAllLines(artifactLog);
-                for (String line : lines) {
-                    final String[] splitLine = line.split(ArtifactCache.CACHE_LINE_SEPARATOR);
+                for ( ; row < lines.size(); row++) {
+                    final String[] splitLine = lines.get(row).split(ArtifactCache.CACHE_LINE_SEPARATOR);
+                    if (splitLine.length < 3) {
+                        throw new IOException("Not enough segments, expected format is <GAV>::<hash>::<path>");
+                    }
                     String gav = splitLine[0];
                     String hash = splitLine[1];
                     Path path = Paths.get(splitLine[2]);
@@ -213,8 +218,8 @@ private void init() throws IOException {
                     paths.put(key, installationDir.resolve(path));
                     hashes.put(key, hash);
                 }
-            } catch (MavenUniverseException e) {
-                throw new IOException("Unable to read cached items.", e);
+            } catch (MavenUniverseException | IOException e) {
+                throw ProsperoLogger.ROOT_LOGGER.unableToReadArtifactCache(row + 1, lines.get(row), e);
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/prospero-common/src/test/java/org/wildfly/prospero/galleon/ArtifactCacheTest.java b/prospero-common/src/test/java/org/wildfly/prospero/galleon/ArtifactCacheTest.java
index 50aef9569..0aaf7384e 100644
--- a/prospero-common/src/test/java/org/wildfly/prospero/galleon/ArtifactCacheTest.java
+++ b/prospero-common/src/test/java/org/wildfly/prospero/galleon/ArtifactCacheTest.java
@@ -24,12 +24,14 @@
 import org.wildfly.channel.MavenArtifact;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Optional;
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatThrownBy;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
@@ -63,6 +65,18 @@ public void testNoCacheFolderReturnsNoArtifacts() throws Exception {
         assertEquals(Optional.empty(),cache.getArtifact(GROUP_ID, ARTIFACT_ID, EXTENSION, CLASSIFIER, VERSION));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testReadBadlyFormattedFile() throws Exception {
+        Path newFolder = temp.newFolder().toPath();
+        Files.createDirectories(newFolder.resolve(ArtifactCache.CACHE_FOLDER));
+        Files.writeString(newFolder.resolve(ArtifactCache.CACHE_FOLDER).resolve(ArtifactCache.CACHE_FILENAME),"badformat");
+
+        assertThatThrownBy(() -> ArtifactCache.getInstance(newFolder))
+                .isInstanceOf(IOException.class)
+                .hasMessageContaining("PRSP000264")
+                .hasStackTraceContaining("Not enough segments");
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void emptyCacheListReturnsNoArtifacts() throws Exception {
         assertEquals(Optional.empty(),cache.getArtifact(GROUP_ID, ARTIFACT_ID, EXTENSION, CLASSIFIER, VERSION));