diff --git a/datamodel/spec_info.go b/datamodel/spec_info.go
index f65440f0..a86c37ee 100644
--- a/datamodel/spec_info.go
+++ b/datamodel/spec_info.go
@@ -104,18 +104,22 @@ func ExtractSpecInfoWithDocumentCheck(spec []byte, bypass bool) (*SpecInfo, erro
 	_, openAPI2 := utils.FindKeyNode(utils.OpenApi2, parsedSpec.Content)
 	_, asyncAPI := utils.FindKeyNode(utils.AsyncApi, parsedSpec.Content)
 
-	parseJSON := func(bytes []byte, spec *SpecInfo, parsedNode *yaml.Node) {
+	parseJSON := func(bytes []byte, spec *SpecInfo, parsedNode *yaml.Node) error {
 		var jsonSpec map[string]interface{}
-		if utils.IsYAML(string(bytes)) {
+		switch {
+		case utils.IsYAML(string(bytes)):
 			_ = parsedNode.Decode(&jsonSpec)
 			b, _ := json.Marshal(&jsonSpec)
 			spec.SpecJSONBytes = &b
 			spec.SpecJSON = &jsonSpec
-		} else {
-			_ = json.Unmarshal(bytes, &jsonSpec)
+		case utils.IsJSON(string(bytes)):
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(bytes, &jsonSpec); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
 			spec.SpecJSONBytes = &bytes
 			spec.SpecJSON = &jsonSpec
 		}
+		return nil
 	}
 
 	// if !bypass {
@@ -149,7 +153,10 @@ func ExtractSpecInfoWithDocumentCheck(spec []byte, bypass bool) (*SpecInfo, erro
 		}
 
 		// parse JSON
-		parseJSON(spec, specInfo, &parsedSpec)
+		if err := parseJSON(spec, specInfo, &parsedSpec); err != nil {
+			specInfo.Error = fmt.Errorf("unable to parse specification: %w", err)
+			return specInfo, specInfo.Error
+		}
 		parsed = true
 
 		// double check for the right version, people mix this up.
@@ -176,7 +183,10 @@ func ExtractSpecInfoWithDocumentCheck(spec []byte, bypass bool) (*SpecInfo, erro
 		specInfo.APISchema = OpenAPI2SchemaData
 
 		// parse JSON
-		parseJSON(spec, specInfo, &parsedSpec)
+		if err := parseJSON(spec, specInfo, &parsedSpec); err != nil {
+			specInfo.Error = fmt.Errorf("unable to parse specification: %w", err)
+			return specInfo, specInfo.Error
+		}
 		parsed = true
 
 		// I am not certain this edge-case is very frequent, but let's make sure we handle it anyway.
@@ -200,7 +210,10 @@ func ExtractSpecInfoWithDocumentCheck(spec []byte, bypass bool) (*SpecInfo, erro
 		// TODO: format for AsyncAPI.
 
 		// parse JSON
-		parseJSON(spec, specInfo, &parsedSpec)
+		if err := parseJSON(spec, specInfo, &parsedSpec); err != nil {
+			specInfo.Error = fmt.Errorf("unable to parse specification: %w", err)
+			return specInfo, nil
+		}
 		parsed = true
 
 		// so far there is only 2 as a major release of AsyncAPI
@@ -215,7 +228,10 @@ func ExtractSpecInfoWithDocumentCheck(spec []byte, bypass bool) (*SpecInfo, erro
 	if specInfo.SpecType == "" {
 		// parse JSON
 		if !bypass {
-			parseJSON(spec, specInfo, &parsedSpec)
+			if err := parseJSON(spec, specInfo, &parsedSpec); err != nil {
+				specInfo.Error = errors.New("spec type not supported by libopenapi, sorry")
+				return specInfo, specInfo.Error
+			}
 			parsed = true
 			specInfo.Error = errors.New("spec type not supported by libopenapi, sorry")
 			return specInfo, specInfo.Error
@@ -227,7 +243,10 @@ func ExtractSpecInfoWithDocumentCheck(spec []byte, bypass bool) (*SpecInfo, erro
 	//}
 
 	if !parsed {
-		parseJSON(spec, specInfo, &parsedSpec)
+		if err := parseJSON(spec, specInfo, &parsedSpec); err != nil {
+			specInfo.Error = fmt.Errorf("unable to parse specification: %w", err)
+			return specInfo, specInfo.Error
+		}
 	}
 
 	// detect the original whitespace indentation
diff --git a/datamodel/spec_info_test.go b/datamodel/spec_info_test.go
index 661732ed..d83ee495 100644
--- a/datamodel/spec_info_test.go
+++ b/datamodel/spec_info_test.go
@@ -24,9 +24,10 @@ const (
 )
 
 var (
-	goodJSON = `{"name":"kitty", "noises":["meow","purrrr","gggrrraaaaaooooww"]}`
-	badJSON  = `{"name":"kitty, "noises":[{"meow","purrrr","gggrrraaaaaooooww"]}}`
-	goodYAML = `name: kitty
+	goodJSON               = `{"name":"kitty", "noises":["meow","purrrr","gggrrraaaaaooooww"]}`
+	badJSON                = `{"name":"kitty, "noises":[{"meow","purrrr","gggrrraaaaaooooww"]}}`
+	badJSONContainingComma = `{"openapi":"3.0.3","info":{"title":"Broken API Spec","version":"1.0.0"},"paths":{"/ping":{"get":{"summary":"Ping endpoint","responses":{"200":{"description":"OK",}}}}}}`
+	goodYAML               = `name: kitty
 noises:
 - meow
 - purrr
@@ -118,6 +119,11 @@ func TestExtractSpecInfo_InvalidJSON(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Error(t, e)
 }
 
+func TestExtractSpecInfo_InvalidJSONContainingExtraComma(t *testing.T) {
+	_, e := ExtractSpecInfo([]byte(badJSONContainingComma))
+	assert.EqualError(t, e, "unable to parse specification: invalid character '}' looking for beginning of object key string")
+}
+
 func TestExtractSpecInfo_Nothing(t *testing.T) {
 	_, e := ExtractSpecInfo([]byte(""))
 	assert.Error(t, e)
diff --git a/document_examples_test.go b/document_examples_test.go
index aab8f5da..e0580895 100644
--- a/document_examples_test.go
+++ b/document_examples_test.go
@@ -378,12 +378,12 @@ func TestExampleCompareDocuments_swagger(t *testing.T) {
 func TestDocument_Paths_As_Array(t *testing.T) {
 	// paths can now be wrapped in an array.
 	spec := `{
-    "openapi": "3.1.0",
-    "paths": [
-        "/": {
-            "get": {}
-        }
-    ]
+  "openapi": "3.1.0",
+  "paths": {
+    "/": {
+      "get": {}
+    }
+  }
 }
 `
 	// create a new document from specification bytes
diff --git a/document_test.go b/document_test.go
index a13cfd93..084a4c18 100644
--- a/document_test.go
+++ b/document_test.go
@@ -544,9 +544,9 @@ func TestDocument_BuildModelBad(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestDocument_Serialize_JSON_Modified(t *testing.T) {
-	json := `{ 'openapi': '3.0',
- 'info': {
-   'title': 'The magic API'
+	json := `{ "openapi": "3.0",
+ "info": {
+   "title": "The magic API"
  }
 }
 `