diff --git a/include/qapi/qmp/qerror.h b/include/qapi/qmp/qerror.h
index c82360f429..145571f618 100644
--- a/include/qapi/qmp/qerror.h
+++ b/include/qapi/qmp/qerror.h
@@ -61,9 +61,6 @@
 #define QERR_IO_ERROR \
     "An IO error has occurred"
 
-#define QERR_JSON_PARSING \
-    "Invalid JSON syntax"
-
 #define QERR_MIGRATION_ACTIVE \
     "There's a migration process in progress"
 
diff --git a/monitor.c b/monitor.c
index 08f799a7bb..3dbdcb5190 100644
--- a/monitor.c
+++ b/monitor.c
@@ -4262,10 +4262,7 @@ static void handle_qmp_command(void *opaque, QObject *req, Error *err)
     QDict *qdict;
     QMPRequest *req_obj;
 
-    if (!req && !err) {
-        /* json_parser_parse() sucks: can fail without setting @err */
-        error_setg(&err, QERR_JSON_PARSING);
-    }
+    assert(!req != !err);
 
     qdict = qobject_to(QDict, req);
     if (qdict) {
diff --git a/qga/main.c b/qga/main.c
index 2fc49d00d8..b74e1241ef 100644
--- a/qga/main.c
+++ b/qga/main.c
@@ -603,12 +603,13 @@ static void process_event(void *opaque, QObject *obj, Error *err)
     int ret;
 
     g_debug("process_event: called");
+    assert(!obj != !err);
     if (err) {
         goto err;
     }
     req = qobject_to(QDict, obj);
     if (!req) {
-        error_setg(&err, QERR_JSON_PARSING);
+        error_setg(&err, "Input must be a JSON object");
         goto err;
     }
     if (!qdict_haskey(req, "execute")) {
diff --git a/qobject/json-lexer.c b/qobject/json-lexer.c
index 96fe13621d..7c31c2c8ff 100644
--- a/qobject/json-lexer.c
+++ b/qobject/json-lexer.c
@@ -334,8 +334,7 @@ static void json_lexer_feed_char(JSONLexer *lexer, char ch, bool flush)
             /* XXX: To avoid having previous bad input leaving the parser in an
              * unresponsive state where we consume unpredictable amounts of
              * subsequent "good" input, percolate this error state up to the
-             * tokenizer/parser by forcing a NULL object to be emitted, then
-             * reset state.
+             * parser by emitting a JSON_ERROR token, then reset lexer state.
              *
              * Also note that this handling is required for reliable channel
              * negotiation between QMP and the guest agent, since chr(0xFF)
diff --git a/qobject/json-streamer.c b/qobject/json-streamer.c
index a373e0114a..e372ecc895 100644
--- a/qobject/json-streamer.c
+++ b/qobject/json-streamer.c
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
 #include "qemu-common.h"
+#include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/json-lexer.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/json-parser.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/json-streamer.h"
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ void json_message_process_token(JSONLexer *lexer, GString *input,
         parser->bracket_count--;
         break;
     case JSON_ERROR:
+        error_setg(&err, "JSON parse error, stray '%s'", input->str);
         goto out_emit;
     default:
         break;
@@ -82,12 +84,20 @@ void json_message_process_token(JSONLexer *lexer, GString *input,
         goto out_emit;
     }
 
-    if (parser->token_size > MAX_TOKEN_SIZE ||
-               g_queue_get_length(parser->tokens) > MAX_TOKEN_COUNT ||
-               parser->bracket_count + parser->brace_count > MAX_NESTING) {
-        /* Security consideration, we limit total memory allocated per object
-         * and the maximum recursion depth that a message can force.
-         */
+    /*
+     * Security consideration, we limit total memory allocated per object
+     * and the maximum recursion depth that a message can force.
+     */
+    if (parser->token_size > MAX_TOKEN_SIZE) {
+        error_setg(&err, "JSON token size limit exceeded");
+        goto out_emit;
+    }
+    if (g_queue_get_length(parser->tokens) > MAX_TOKEN_COUNT) {
+        error_setg(&err, "JSON token count limit exceeded");
+        goto out_emit;
+    }
+    if (parser->bracket_count + parser->brace_count > MAX_NESTING) {
+        error_setg(&err, "JSON nesting depth limit exceeded");
         goto out_emit;
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/check-qjson.c b/tests/check-qjson.c
index 604886a1a2..d6fda0786f 100644
--- a/tests/check-qjson.c
+++ b/tests/check-qjson.c
@@ -1021,6 +1021,7 @@ static void interpolation_unknown(void)
     }
     g_test_trap_subprocess(NULL, 0, 0);
     g_test_trap_assert_failed();
+    g_test_trap_assert_stderr("*Unexpected error*stray '%x'*");
 }
 
 static void interpolation_string(void)
@@ -1296,11 +1297,11 @@ static void junk_input(void)
     QObject *obj;
 
     obj = qobject_from_json("@", &err);
-    g_assert(!err);             /* BUG */
+    error_free_or_abort(&err);
     g_assert(obj == NULL);
 
     obj = qobject_from_json("{\x01", &err);
-    g_assert(!err);             /* BUG */
+    error_free_or_abort(&err);
     g_assert(obj == NULL);
 
     obj = qobject_from_json("[0\xFF]", &err);
@@ -1308,11 +1309,11 @@ static void junk_input(void)
     g_assert(obj == NULL);
 
     obj = qobject_from_json("00", &err);
-    g_assert(!err);             /* BUG */
+    error_free_or_abort(&err);
     g_assert(obj == NULL);
 
     obj = qobject_from_json("[1e", &err);
-    g_assert(!err);             /* BUG */
+    error_free_or_abort(&err);
     g_assert(obj == NULL);
 
     obj = qobject_from_json("truer", &err);
@@ -1324,7 +1325,7 @@ static void unterminated_string(void)
 {
     Error *err = NULL;
     QObject *obj = qobject_from_json("\"abc", &err);
-    g_assert(!err);             /* BUG */
+    error_free_or_abort(&err);
     g_assert(obj == NULL);
 }
 
@@ -1332,7 +1333,7 @@ static void unterminated_sq_string(void)
 {
     Error *err = NULL;
     QObject *obj = qobject_from_json("'abc", &err);
-    g_assert(!err);             /* BUG */
+    error_free_or_abort(&err);
     g_assert(obj == NULL);
 }
 
@@ -1340,7 +1341,7 @@ static void unterminated_escape(void)
 {
     Error *err = NULL;
     QObject *obj = qobject_from_json("\"abc\\\"", &err);
-    g_assert(!err);             /* BUG */
+    error_free_or_abort(&err);
     g_assert(obj == NULL);
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/libqtest.c b/tests/libqtest.c
index 1f3b0cb1b1..5973a67652 100644
--- a/tests/libqtest.c
+++ b/tests/libqtest.c
@@ -450,8 +450,11 @@ static void qmp_response(void *opaque, QObject *obj, Error *err)
 {
     QMPResponseParser *qmp = opaque;
 
-    if (!obj) {
-        fprintf(stderr, "QMP JSON response parsing failed\n");
+    assert(!obj != !err);
+
+    if (err) {
+        error_prepend(&err, "QMP JSON response parsing failed: ");
+        error_report_err(err);
         abort();
     }