diff --git a/api/storage_service.cc b/api/storage_service.cc
index 98511de2ff..bd89a1f0b0 100644
--- a/api/storage_service.cc
+++ b/api/storage_service.cc
@@ -254,6 +254,9 @@ void set_storage_service(http_context& ctx, routes& r) {
         if (column_family.empty()) {
             resp = service::get_local_storage_service().take_snapshot(tag, keynames);
         } else {
+            if (keynames.empty()) {
+                throw httpd::bad_param_exception("The keyspace of column families must be specified");
+            }
             if (keynames.size() > 1) {
                 throw httpd::bad_param_exception("Only one keyspace allowed when specifying a column family");
             }