diff --git a/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-common b/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-common
index 5b787e8f5..fcc669fe2 100755
--- a/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-common
+++ b/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-common
@@ -181,6 +181,10 @@ compare_es_versions() {
 
     # Compare each segment of the versions
     for ((i=0; i<${#ver1[@]}; i++)); do
+        # if a segment in ver1 or ver2 is missing, set it to 0
+        if [[ -z ${ver1[i]} ]]; then
+            ver1[i]=0
+        fi
         if [[ -z ${ver2[i]} ]]; then
             ver2[i]=0
         fi