diff --git a/bin/lib/check_reqs.js b/bin/lib/check_reqs.js
index ffa35b65..9d251596 100644
--- a/bin/lib/check_reqs.js
+++ b/bin/lib/check_reqs.js
@@ -155,7 +155,8 @@ module.exports.check_java = function() {
             // javac writes version info to stderr instead of stdout
             return tryCommand('javac -version', msg, true);
         }).then(function (output) {
-            return /^javac ((?:\d+\.)+(?:\d+))/i.exec(output)[1];
+            var match = /javac ((?:\d+\.)+(?:\d+))/i.exec(output)[1];
+            return match && match[1];
         });
     });
 };