diff --git a/db/compaction_iterator.cc b/db/compaction_iterator.cc
index b6c8c4b73..fc7e56fae 100644
--- a/db/compaction_iterator.cc
+++ b/db/compaction_iterator.cc
@@ -98,8 +98,11 @@ void CompactionIterator::NextFromInput() {
     if (!ParseInternalKey(key_, &ikey_)) {
       // If `expect_valid_internal_key_` is false, return the corrupted key
       // and let the caller decide what to do with it.
-      // TODO(noetzli): Maybe we should have a more elegant solution for this.
-      assert(!expect_valid_internal_key_);
+      // TODO(noetzli): We should have a more elegant solution for this.
+      if (expect_valid_internal_key_) {
+        assert(!"corrupted internal key is not expected");
+        break;
+      }
       current_user_key_.Clear();
       has_current_user_key_ = false;
       current_user_key_sequence_ = kMaxSequenceNumber;
diff --git a/db/compaction_iterator.h b/db/compaction_iterator.h
index d683d5626..a92972256 100644
--- a/db/compaction_iterator.h
+++ b/db/compaction_iterator.h
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class CompactionIterator {
   MergeHelper* merge_helper_;
   const std::vector<SequenceNumber>* snapshots_;
   Env* env_;
-  bool expect_valid_internal_key_ __attribute__((__unused__));
+  bool expect_valid_internal_key_;
   Statistics* stats_;
   Compaction* compaction_;
   const CompactionFilter* compaction_filter_;