diff --git a/spring-boot-dependencies/pom.xml b/spring-boot-dependencies/pom.xml
index 7dde10b278..1176a9442c 100644
--- a/spring-boot-dependencies/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-boot-dependencies/pom.xml
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@
 		<jolokia.version>1.3.5</jolokia.version>
 		<jooq.version>3.9.0</jooq.version>
 		<json.version>20140107</json.version>
-		<jsonassert.version>1.3.0</jsonassert.version>
+		<jsonassert.version>1.4.0</jsonassert.version>
 		<json-path.version>2.2.0</json-path.version>
 		<jstl.version>1.2</jstl.version>
 		<jtds.version>1.3.1</jtds.version>
diff --git a/spring-boot-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/test/json/JsonContentAssert.java b/spring-boot-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/test/json/JsonContentAssert.java
index 6a1703f035..b9f2f7d423 100644
--- a/spring-boot-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/test/json/JsonContentAssert.java
+++ b/spring-boot-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/test/json/JsonContentAssert.java
@@ -987,9 +987,17 @@ public class JsonContentAssert extends AbstractAssert<JsonContentAssert, CharSeq
 		if (this.actual == null) {
 			return compareForNull(expectedJson);
 		}
-		return JSONCompare.compareJSON(
-				(expectedJson == null ? null : expectedJson.toString()),
-				this.actual.toString(), compareMode);
+		try {
+			return JSONCompare.compareJSON(
+					(expectedJson == null ? null : expectedJson.toString()),
+					this.actual.toString(), compareMode);
+		}
+		catch (Exception ex) {
+			if (ex instanceof RuntimeException) {
+				throw (RuntimeException) ex;
+			}
+			throw new IllegalStateException(ex);
+		}
 	}
 
 	private JSONCompareResult compare(CharSequence expectedJson,
@@ -997,9 +1005,17 @@ public class JsonContentAssert extends AbstractAssert<JsonContentAssert, CharSeq
 		if (this.actual == null) {
 			return compareForNull(expectedJson);
 		}
-		return JSONCompare.compareJSON(
-				(expectedJson == null ? null : expectedJson.toString()),
-				this.actual.toString(), comparator);
+		try {
+			return JSONCompare.compareJSON(
+					(expectedJson == null ? null : expectedJson.toString()),
+					this.actual.toString(), comparator);
+		}
+		catch (Exception ex) {
+			if (ex instanceof RuntimeException) {
+				throw (RuntimeException) ex;
+			}
+			throw new IllegalStateException(ex);
+		}
 	}
 
 	private JSONCompareResult compareForNull(CharSequence expectedJson) {