diff --git a/src/rgw/rgw_admin.cc b/src/rgw/rgw_admin.cc
index f6cc4b97bc3..b6fdd1ccca6 100644
--- a/src/rgw/rgw_admin.cc
+++ b/src/rgw/rgw_admin.cc
@@ -907,6 +907,123 @@ int check_min_obj_stripe_size(RGWRados *store, RGWBucketInfo& bucket_info, rgw_o
   return 0;
 }
 
+
+int check_obj_locator_underscore(RGWBucketInfo& bucket_info, rgw_obj& obj, rgw_obj_key& key, bool fix, bool remove_bad, Formatter *f) {
+  f->open_object_section("object");
+  f->open_object_section("key");
+  f->dump_string("name", key.name);
+  f->dump_string("instance", key.instance);
+  f->close_section();
+
+  string oid;
+  string locator;
+
+  get_obj_bucket_and_oid_loc(obj, obj.bucket, oid, locator);
+
+  f->dump_string("oid", oid);
+  f->dump_string("locator", locator);
+
+  
+  RGWObjectCtx obj_ctx(store);
+
+  RGWRados::Object op_target(store, bucket_info, obj_ctx, obj);
+  RGWRados::Object::Read read_op(&op_target);
+
+  int ret = read_op.prepare(NULL, NULL);
+  bool needs_fixing = (ret == -ENOENT);
+
+  f->dump_bool("needs_fixing", needs_fixing);
+
+  string status = (needs_fixing ? "needs_fixing" : "ok");
+
+  if ((needs_fixing || remove_bad) && fix) {
+    ret = store->fix_head_obj_locator(obj.bucket, needs_fixing, remove_bad, key);
+    if (ret < 0) {
+      cerr << "ERROR: fix_head_object_locator() returned ret=" << ret << std::endl;
+      goto done;
+    }
+    status = "fixed";
+  }
+
+done:
+  f->dump_string("status", status);
+
+  f->close_section();
+
+  return 0;
+}
+
+int do_check_object_locator(const string& bucket_name, bool fix, bool remove_bad, Formatter *f)
+{
+  if (remove_bad && !fix) {
+    cerr << "ERROR: can't have remove_bad specified without fix" << std::endl;
+    return -EINVAL;
+  }
+
+  RGWBucketInfo bucket_info;
+  rgw_bucket bucket;
+  string bucket_id;
+
+  f->open_object_section("bucket");
+  f->dump_string("bucket", bucket_name);
+  int ret = init_bucket(bucket_name, bucket_id, bucket_info, bucket);
+  if (ret < 0) {
+    cerr << "ERROR: could not init bucket: " << cpp_strerror(-ret) << std::endl;
+    return ret;
+  }
+  bool truncated;
+  int count = 0;
+
+  int max_entries = 1000;
+
+  string prefix;
+  string delim;
+  vector<RGWObjEnt> result;
+  map<string, bool> common_prefixes;
+  string ns;
+
+  RGWRados::Bucket target(store, bucket);
+  RGWRados::Bucket::List list_op(&target);
+
+  string marker;
+
+  list_op.params.prefix = prefix;
+  list_op.params.delim = delim;
+  list_op.params.marker = rgw_obj_key(marker);
+  list_op.params.ns = ns;
+  list_op.params.enforce_ns = false;
+  list_op.params.list_versions = true;
+  
+  f->open_array_section("check_objects");
+  do {
+    ret = list_op.list_objects(max_entries - count, &result, &common_prefixes, &truncated);
+    if (ret < 0) {
+      cerr << "ERROR: store->list_objects(): " << cpp_strerror(-ret) << std::endl;
+      return -ret;
+    }
+
+    count += result.size();
+
+    list<rgw_obj> objs;
+    for (vector<RGWObjEnt>::iterator iter = result.begin(); iter != result.end(); ++iter) {
+      rgw_obj_key key = iter->key;
+      rgw_obj obj(bucket, key);
+
+      if (key.name[0] == '_') {
+        ret = check_obj_locator_underscore(bucket_info, obj, key, fix, remove_bad, f);
+        /* ignore return code, move to the next one */
+      }
+    }
+    f->flush(cout);
+  } while (truncated && count < max_entries);
+  f->close_section();
+  f->close_section();
+
+  f->flush(cout);
+
+  return 0;
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char **argv) 
 {
   vector<const char*> args;
@@ -944,6 +1061,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
   int yes_i_really_mean_it = false;
   int delete_child_objects = false;
   int fix = false;
+  int remove_bad = false;
+  int check_head_obj_locator = false;
   int max_buckets = -1;
   map<string, bool> categories;
   string caps;
@@ -1128,6 +1247,10 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
       // do nothing
     } else if (ceph_argparse_binary_flag(args, i, &fix, NULL, "--fix", (char*)NULL)) {
       // do nothing
+    } else if (ceph_argparse_binary_flag(args, i, &remove_bad, NULL, "--remove-bad", (char*)NULL)) {
+      // do nothing
+    } else if (ceph_argparse_binary_flag(args, i, &check_head_obj_locator, NULL, "--check-head-obj-locator", (char*)NULL)) {
+      // do nothing
     } else if (ceph_argparse_binary_flag(args, i, &check_objects, NULL, "--check-objects", (char*)NULL)) {
      // do nothing
     } else if (ceph_argparse_binary_flag(args, i, &sync_stats, NULL, "--sync-stats", (char*)NULL)) {
@@ -2348,7 +2471,15 @@ next:
   }
 
   if (opt_cmd == OPT_BUCKET_CHECK) {
-    RGWBucketAdminOp::check_index(store, bucket_op, f);
+    if (check_head_obj_locator) {
+      if (bucket_name.empty()) {
+        cerr << "ERROR: need to specify bucket name" << std::endl;
+        return EINVAL;
+      }
+      do_check_object_locator(bucket_name, fix, remove_bad, formatter);
+    } else {
+      RGWBucketAdminOp::check_index(store, bucket_op, f);
+    }
   }
 
   if (opt_cmd == OPT_BUCKET_RM) {
diff --git a/src/rgw/rgw_common.h b/src/rgw/rgw_common.h
index a1ae4d975f2..1baf1786252 100644
--- a/src/rgw/rgw_common.h
+++ b/src/rgw/rgw_common.h
@@ -1228,6 +1228,15 @@ public:
 
   void reset_loc() {
     loc.clear();
+    /*
+     * For backward compatibility. Older versions used to have object locator on all objects,
+     * however, the orig_obj was the effective object locator. This had the same effect as not
+     * having object locator at all for most objects but the ones that started with underscore as
+     * these were escaped.
+     */
+    if (orig_obj[0] == '_') {
+      loc = orig_obj;
+    }
   }
 
   bool have_null_instance() {
@@ -1265,6 +1274,7 @@ public:
       object.append("_");
       object.append(o);
     }
+    reset_loc();
   }
 
   /*
diff --git a/src/rgw/rgw_rados.cc b/src/rgw/rgw_rados.cc
index 30af667193b..8ef9c7e7908 100644
--- a/src/rgw/rgw_rados.cc
+++ b/src/rgw/rgw_rados.cc
@@ -2967,6 +2967,89 @@ int RGWRados::get_obj_ref(const rgw_obj& obj, rgw_rados_ref *ref, rgw_bucket *bu
   return 0;
 }
 
+/*
+ * fixes an issue where head objects were supposed to have a locator created, but ended
+ * up without one
+ */
+int RGWRados::fix_head_obj_locator(rgw_bucket& bucket, bool copy_obj, bool remove_bad, rgw_obj_key& key)
+{
+  string oid;
+  string locator;
+
+  rgw_obj obj(bucket, key);
+
+  get_obj_bucket_and_oid_loc(obj, bucket, oid, locator);
+
+  if (locator.empty()) {
+    ldout(cct, 20) << "object does not have a locator, nothing to fix" << dendl;
+    return 0;
+  }
+
+  librados::IoCtx ioctx;
+
+  int ret = get_obj_ioctx(obj, &ioctx);
+  if (ret < 0) {
+    cerr << "ERROR: get_obj_ioctx() returned ret=" << ret << std::endl;
+    return ret;
+  }
+  ioctx.locator_set_key(string()); /* override locator for this object, use empty locator */
+
+  uint64_t size;
+  time_t mtime;
+  bufferlist data;
+
+  map<string, bufferlist> attrs;
+  librados::ObjectReadOperation op;
+  op.getxattrs(&attrs, NULL);
+  op.stat(&size, &mtime, NULL);
+#define HEAD_SIZE 512 * 1024
+  op.read(0, HEAD_SIZE, &data, NULL);
+
+  ret = ioctx.operate(oid, &op, NULL);
+  if (ret < 0) {
+    lderr(cct) << "ERROR: ioctx.operate(oid=" << oid << ") returned ret=" << ret << dendl;
+    return ret;
+  }
+
+  if (size > HEAD_SIZE) {
+    lderr(cct) << "ERROR: returned object size (" << size << ") > HEAD_SIZE (" << HEAD_SIZE << ")" << dendl;
+    return -EIO;
+  }
+
+  if (size != data.length()) {
+    lderr(cct) << "ERROR: returned object size (" << size << ") != data.length() (" << data.length() << ")" << dendl;
+    return -EIO;
+  }
+
+  if (copy_obj) {
+    librados::ObjectWriteOperation wop;
+
+    wop.mtime(&mtime);
+
+    map<string, bufferlist>::iterator iter;
+    for (iter = attrs.begin(); iter != attrs.end(); ++iter) {
+      wop.setxattr(iter->first.c_str(), iter->second);
+    }
+
+    wop.write(0, data);
+
+    ioctx.locator_set_key(locator);
+    ioctx.operate(oid, &wop);
+  }
+
+  if (remove_bad) {
+    ioctx.locator_set_key(string());
+
+    ret = ioctx.remove(oid);
+    if (ret < 0) {
+      lderr(cct) << "ERROR: failed to remove original bad object" << dendl;
+      return ret;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return 0;
+}
+
 int RGWRados::BucketShard::init(rgw_bucket& _bucket, rgw_obj& obj)
 {
   bucket = _bucket;
diff --git a/src/rgw/rgw_rados.h b/src/rgw/rgw_rados.h
index 30ca28c6f5b..01821a36538 100644
--- a/src/rgw/rgw_rados.h
+++ b/src/rgw/rgw_rados.h
@@ -2032,6 +2032,7 @@ public:
                          map<RGWObjCategory, RGWStorageStats> *calculated_stats);
   int bucket_rebuild_index(rgw_bucket& bucket);
   int remove_objs_from_index(rgw_bucket& bucket, list<rgw_obj_key>& oid_list);
+  int fix_head_obj_locator(rgw_bucket& bucket, bool copy_obj, bool remove_bad, rgw_obj_key& key);
 
   int cls_user_get_header(const string& user_id, cls_user_header *header);
   int cls_user_get_header_async(const string& user_id, RGWGetUserHeader_CB *ctx);