diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3c6287b3..5636be7a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Don't show an error if image files for containers can't be found. #933
 - Make configured paths available in overlays as `.Path` #960
 - Support importing containers with symlinked `/bin/sh` #797
+- Don't panic on malformed passwd #527
 
 ## [4.4.0] 2023-01-18
 
diff --git a/internal/pkg/container/syncuids.go b/internal/pkg/container/syncuids.go
index 529b2e86..1222c6b6 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/container/syncuids.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/container/syncuids.go
@@ -167,7 +167,10 @@ func (db syncDB) read(fileName string, fromContainer bool) error {
 		for fileScanner.Scan() {
 			line := fileScanner.Text()
 			fields := strings.Split(line, ":")
-
+			if len(fields) != 7 {
+				wwlog.Debug("malformed line in passwd: %s", line)
+				continue
+			}
 			name := fields[0]
 			if name == "" {
 				continue
diff --git a/internal/pkg/container/syncuids_test.go b/internal/pkg/container/syncuids_test.go
index 70951b92..abaad68a 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/container/syncuids_test.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/container/syncuids_test.go
@@ -258,3 +258,13 @@ func Test_differ(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.False(t, entry.match())
 	assert.True(t, entry.differ())
 }
+
+func Test_malformed_passwd(t *testing.T) {
+	hostInput := `"testuser1:x:1001:1001::/home/testuser:/bin/bash"
+	asdf`
+	hostFileName := writeTempFile(t, hostInput)
+	defer os.Remove(hostFileName)
+	db := make(syncDB)
+	err := db.readFromHost(hostFileName)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+}