diff --git a/lightningd/jsonrpc.c b/lightningd/jsonrpc.c
index 7240fdc9c1b4..dbd7fd84b73d 100644
--- a/lightningd/jsonrpc.c
+++ b/lightningd/jsonrpc.c
@@ -1070,6 +1070,13 @@ parse_request(struct json_connection *jcon,
 				    "Expected string for method");
 	}
 
+	c->json_cmd = find_cmd(jcon->ld->jsonrpc, buffer, method);
+	if (!c->json_cmd) {
+		return command_fail(
+		    c, JSONRPC2_METHOD_NOT_FOUND, "Unknown command '%.*s'",
+		    method->end - method->start, buffer + method->start);
+	}
+
 	if (filter) {
 		struct command_result *ret;
 		ret = parse_filter(c, "filter", buffer, filter);
@@ -1081,12 +1088,6 @@ parse_request(struct json_connection *jcon,
 	 * actually just logging the id */
 	log_io(jcon->log, LOG_IO_IN, NULL, c->id, NULL, 0);
 
-	c->json_cmd = find_cmd(jcon->ld->jsonrpc, buffer, method);
-	if (!c->json_cmd) {
-		return command_fail(
-		    c, JSONRPC2_METHOD_NOT_FOUND, "Unknown command '%.*s'",
-		    method->end - method->start, buffer + method->start);
-	}
 	if (!command_deprecated_in_ok(c, NULL,
 				      c->json_cmd->depr_start,
 				      c->json_cmd->depr_end)) {
diff --git a/tests/test_misc.py b/tests/test_misc.py
index e17d4935fc9c..e159b1c48bb4 100644
--- a/tests/test_misc.py
+++ b/tests/test_misc.py
@@ -5042,3 +5042,27 @@ def test_zero_locktime_blocks(node_factory, bitcoind):
     l2.rpc.close(l3.info['id'])
     bitcoind.generate_block(1, wait_for_mempool=2)
     sync_blockheight(bitcoind, [l1, l2, l3])
+
+
+def test_filter_with_invalid_json(node_factory):
+    # This crashes only in *non-developer mode*: it uses command_log()
+    # in that case (since it doesn't print the invalid token in
+    # non-dev mode), and that expects cmd->json_cmd to be populated!`
+    l1 = node_factory.get_node(start=False)
+    l1.daemon.early_opts = []
+    l1.daemon.opts = {k: v for k, v in l1.daemon.opts.items() if not k.startswith('dev')}
+    l1.start()
+
+    out = subprocess.run(['cli/lightning-cli',
+                          '--network={}'.format(TEST_NETWORK),
+                          '--lightning-dir={}'
+                          .format(l1.daemon.lightning_dir),
+                          '-l', '1',
+                          '-k',
+                          'wait',
+                          'subsystem=invoices',
+                          'indexname=created',
+                          'nextvalue=0'],
+                         stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+    assert 'filter: Expected object: invalid token' in out.stdout.decode('utf-8')
+    assert out.returncode == 1