diff --git a/servers/slapd/filter.c b/servers/slapd/filter.c
index ef278e4be66da59828ca019a92b00464a907886e..cfb4ee4b342db6e0b901b62767aad7db5ed63c30 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/filter.c
+++ b/servers/slapd/filter.c
@@ -183,7 +183,12 @@ get_filter(
 		err = slap_bv2ad( &type, &f->f_desc, text );
 
 		if( err != LDAP_SUCCESS ) {
+			/* unrecognized attribute description or other error */
+			f->f_choice = SLAPD_FILTER_COMPUTED;
+			f->f_result = LDAP_COMPARE_FALSE;
+			*fstr = ch_strdup( "(unrecogized=*)" );
 			ch_free( type.bv_val );
+			err = LDAP_SUCCESS;
 			break;
 		}