diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/MimeTypeUtils.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/MimeTypeUtils.java
index 0bf62d58e31d..51b3b7df99a0 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/MimeTypeUtils.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/MimeTypeUtils.java
@@ -219,6 +219,10 @@ public static MimeType parseMimeType(String mimeType) {
 		if (!StringUtils.hasLength(mimeType)) {
 			throw new InvalidMimeTypeException(mimeType, "'mimeType' must not be empty");
 		}
+		if (mimeType.startsWith(";")) {
+			throw new InvalidMimeTypeException(mimeType, "does not contain any type");
+		}
+
 		String[] parts = StringUtils.tokenizeToStringArray(mimeType, ";");
 
 		String fullType = parts[0].trim();
diff --git a/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/MimeTypeTests.java b/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/MimeTypeTests.java
index b9d3480fd72f..ddbee82c5270 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/MimeTypeTests.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/MimeTypeTests.java
@@ -164,6 +164,11 @@ public void parseMimeType() throws Exception {
 		assertEquals("Invalid subtype", "*", mimeType.getSubtype());
 	}
 
+	@Test(expected = InvalidMimeTypeException.class)
+	public void parseMimeTypeNoType() {
+		MimeTypeUtils.parseMimeType(";");
+	}
+
 	@Test(expected = InvalidMimeTypeException.class)
 	public void parseMimeTypeNoSubtype() {
 		MimeTypeUtils.parseMimeType("audio");