diff --git a/infrastructure-playbooks/rolling_update.yml b/infrastructure-playbooks/rolling_update.yml
index eb0753bed..58246eeab 100644
--- a/infrastructure-playbooks/rolling_update.yml
+++ b/infrastructure-playbooks/rolling_update.yml
@@ -194,8 +194,8 @@
       command: ceph --cluster "{{ cluster }}" -s --format json
       register: ceph_health_raw
       until: >
-        hostvars[mon_host]['ansible_hostname'] in (ceph_health_raw.stdout | default({}) |  from_json)["quorum_names"] or
-        hostvars[mon_host]['ansible_fqdn'] in (ceph_health_raw.stdout | default({}) | from_json)["quorum_names"]
+        hostvars[mon_host]['ansible_hostname'] in (ceph_health_raw.stdout | default('{}') |  from_json)["quorum_names"] or
+        hostvars[mon_host]['ansible_fqdn'] in (ceph_health_raw.stdout | default('{}') | from_json)["quorum_names"]
       retries: "{{ health_mon_check_retries }}"
       delay: "{{ health_mon_check_delay }}"
       delegate_to: "{{ mon_host }}"
@@ -207,8 +207,8 @@
         {{ container_binary }} exec ceph-mon-{{ hostvars[mon_host]['ansible_hostname'] }} ceph --cluster "{{ cluster }}" -s --format json
       register: ceph_health_raw
       until: >
-        hostvars[mon_host]['ansible_hostname'] in (ceph_health_raw.stdout | default({}) | from_json)["quorum_names"] or
-        hostvars[mon_host]['ansible_fqdn'] in (ceph_health_raw.stdout | default({}) | from_json)["quorum_names"]
+        hostvars[mon_host]['ansible_hostname'] in (ceph_health_raw.stdout | default('{}') | from_json)["quorum_names"] or
+        hostvars[mon_host]['ansible_fqdn'] in (ceph_health_raw.stdout | default('{}') | from_json)["quorum_names"]
       retries: "{{ health_mon_check_retries }}"
       delay: "{{ health_mon_check_delay }}"
       delegate_to: "{{ mon_host }}"
diff --git a/roles/ceph-mon/tasks/ceph_keys.yml b/roles/ceph-mon/tasks/ceph_keys.yml
index 3a3e6d7c2..3bc4f8f55 100644
--- a/roles/ceph-mon/tasks/ceph_keys.yml
+++ b/roles/ceph-mon/tasks/ceph_keys.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   register: ceph_health_raw
   run_once: true
   until: >
-    (ceph_health_raw.stdout | default({}) | from_json)['state'] in ['leader', 'peon']
+    (ceph_health_raw.stdout | default('{}') | from_json)['state'] in ['leader', 'peon']
   retries: "{{ handler_health_mon_check_retries }}"
   delay: "{{ handler_health_mon_check_delay }}"