diff --git a/source/common/json/BUILD b/source/common/json/BUILD
index 9fd6cdf8a848..6967d116defc 100644
--- a/source/common/json/BUILD
+++ b/source/common/json/BUILD
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ envoy_cc_library(
         ":json_internal_lib",
         "//source/common/common:assert_lib",
         "//source/common/common:thread_lib",
+        "@utf8_range//:utf8_validity",
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/source/common/json/json_internal.cc b/source/common/json/json_internal.cc
index f5c8cc5c21d5..a4d57a297cb3 100644
--- a/source/common/json/json_internal.cc
+++ b/source/common/json/json_internal.cc
@@ -787,7 +787,7 @@ ObjectSharedPtr Factory::loadFromProtobufStruct(const ProtobufWkt::Struct& proto
 
 std::string Factory::serialize(absl::string_view str) {
   nlohmann::json j(str);
-  return j.dump();
+  return j.dump(-1, ' ', false, nlohmann::detail::error_handler_t::replace);
 }
 
 std::vector<uint8_t> Factory::jsonToMsgpack(const std::string& json_string) {
diff --git a/source/common/json/json_sanitizer.cc b/source/common/json/json_sanitizer.cc
index d45a7bdc8013..1e9dd9c5d4f4 100644
--- a/source/common/json/json_sanitizer.cc
+++ b/source/common/json/json_sanitizer.cc
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include "source/common/json/json_internal.h"
 
 #include "absl/strings/str_format.h"
+#include "utf8_validity.h"
 
 namespace Envoy {
 namespace Json {
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ absl::string_view sanitize(std::string& buffer, absl::string_view str) {
   if (need_slow == 0) {
     return str; // Fast path, should be executed most of the time.
   }
-  TRY_ASSERT_MAIN_THREAD {
+  if (utf8_range::IsStructurallyValid(str)) {
     // The Nlohmann JSON library supports serialization and is not too slow. A
     // hand-rolled sanitizer can be a little over 2x faster at the cost of added
     // production complexity. The main drawback is that this code cannot be used
@@ -74,9 +75,7 @@ absl::string_view sanitize(std::string& buffer, absl::string_view str) {
     // adds complexity to the production code base.
     buffer = Nlohmann::Factory::serialize(str);
     return stripDoubleQuotes(buffer);
-  }
-  END_TRY
-  catch (std::exception&) {
+  } else {
     // If Nlohmann throws an error, emit a hex escape for any character
     // requiring it. This can occur for invalid utf-8 sequences, and we don't
     // want to crash the server if such a sequence makes its way into a string
diff --git a/test/common/json/json_sanitizer_fuzz_test.cc b/test/common/json/json_sanitizer_fuzz_test.cc
index 81372869e25e..ed6d33758ea1 100644
--- a/test/common/json/json_sanitizer_fuzz_test.cc
+++ b/test/common/json/json_sanitizer_fuzz_test.cc
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ DEFINE_FUZZER(const uint8_t* buf, size_t len) {
       absl::string_view proto_sanitized = Envoy::Json::stripDoubleQuotes(buffer2);
       RELEASE_ASSERT(Envoy::Json::TestUtil::utf8Equivalent(sanitized, proto_sanitized, errmsg),
                      errmsg);
+    } else {
+      std::string decoded, errmsg;
+      EXPECT_TRUE(Json::TestUtil::decodeEscapedJson(sanitized, decoded, errmsg))
+          << input << ": " << errmsg;
+      EXPECT_EQ(input, decoded);
     }
   }
 }