diff --git a/C4/Auth.pm b/C4/Auth.pm
index 492c8b7635..278f8eb995 100644
--- a/C4/Auth.pm
+++ b/C4/Auth.pm
@@ -46,7 +46,9 @@ BEGIN {
     $debug       = $ENV{DEBUG};
     @ISA         = qw(Exporter);
     @EXPORT      = qw(&checkauth &get_template_and_user &haspermission &get_user_subpermissions);
-    @EXPORT_OK   = qw(&check_api_auth &get_session &check_cookie_auth &checkpw &get_all_subpermissions &get_user_subpermissions);
+    @EXPORT_OK   = qw(&check_api_auth &get_session &check_cookie_auth &checkpw &get_all_subpermissions &get_user_subpermissions
+                      ParseSearchHistoryCookie
+                   );
     %EXPORT_TAGS = ( EditPermissions => [qw(get_all_subpermissions get_user_subpermissions)] );
     $ldap        = C4::Context->config('useldapserver') || 0;
     $cas         = C4::Context->preference('casAuthentication');
@@ -249,10 +251,7 @@ sub get_template_and_user {
 
 			# And if there's a cookie with searches performed when the user was not logged in, 
 			# we add them to the logged-in search history
-			my $searchcookie = $in->{'query'}->cookie('KohaOpacRecentSearches');
-			if ($searchcookie){
-				$searchcookie = uri_unescape($searchcookie);
-                    my @recentSearches = @{decode_json($searchcookie) || []};
+            my @recentSearches = ParseSearchHistoryCookie($in->{'query'});
 				if (@recentSearches) {
 					my $sth = $dbh->prepare($SEARCH_HISTORY_INSERT_SQL);
 					$sth->execute( $borrowernumber,
@@ -274,7 +273,6 @@ sub get_template_and_user {
 				}
 			}
 		}
-    }
 	else {	# if this is an anonymous session, setup to display public lists...
 
         $template->param( sessionID        => $sessionID );
@@ -288,16 +286,11 @@ sub get_template_and_user {
  	# Anonymous opac search history
  	# If opac search history is enabled and at least one search has already been performed
  	if (C4::Context->preference('EnableOpacSearchHistory')) {
-		my $searchcookie = $in->{'query'}->cookie('KohaOpacRecentSearches');
-		if ($searchcookie){
-			$searchcookie = uri_unescape($searchcookie);
-                my @recentSearches = @{decode_json($searchcookie) || []};
- 	    # We show the link in opac
+        my @recentSearches = ParseSearchHistoryCookie($in->{'query'}); 
 			if (@recentSearches) {
 				$template->param(ShowOpacRecentSearchLink => 1);
 			}
 	    }
- 	}
 
     if(C4::Context->preference('dateformat')){
         if(C4::Context->preference('dateformat') eq "metric"){
@@ -1686,6 +1679,15 @@ sub getborrowernumber {
     return 0;
 }
 
+sub ParseSearchHistoryCookie {
+    my $input = shift;
+    my $search_cookie = $input->cookie('KohaOpacRecentSearches');
+    return () unless $search_cookie;
+    my $obj = eval { decode_json(uri_unescape($search_cookie)) };
+    return () unless defined $obj;
+    return () unless ref $obj eq 'ARRAY';
+    return @{ $obj };
+}
 
 END { }    # module clean-up code here (global destructor)
 1;
diff --git a/opac/opac-search-history.pl b/opac/opac-search-history.pl
index 9331e6e8b7..35ec54e66f 100755
--- a/opac/opac-search-history.pl
+++ b/opac/opac-search-history.pl
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 
-use C4::Auth qw(:DEFAULT get_session);
+use C4::Auth qw(:DEFAULT get_session ParseSearchHistoryCookie);
 use CGI;
 use JSON qw/decode_json encode_json/;
 use C4::Context;
@@ -67,10 +67,7 @@ if (!$loggedinuser) {
     # Showing search history
     } else {
 
-	# Getting the cookie
-	my $searchcookie = $cgi->cookie('KohaOpacRecentSearches');
-	if ($searchcookie && decode_json(uri_unescape($searchcookie))) {
-	    my @recentSearches = @{decode_json(uri_unescape($searchcookie))};
+        my @recentSearches = ParseSearchHistoryCookie($cgi);
 	    if (@recentSearches) {
 
 		# As the dates are stored as unix timestamps, let's do some formatting
@@ -93,7 +90,6 @@ if (!$loggedinuser) {
 		$template->param(recentSearches => \@recentSearches);
 	    }
 	}
-    }
 } else {
 # And if the user is logged in, we deal with the database
    
diff --git a/opac/opac-search.pl b/opac/opac-search.pl
index 6528e723c8..4daef5c81f 100755
--- a/opac/opac-search.pl
+++ b/opac/opac-search.pl
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ use warnings;
 ## load Koha modules
 use C4::Context;
 use C4::Output;
-use C4::Auth qw(:DEFAULT get_session);
+use C4::Auth qw(:DEFAULT get_session ParseSearchHistoryCookie);
 use C4::Languages qw(getAllLanguages);
 use C4::Search;
 use C4::Biblio;  # GetBiblioData
@@ -576,16 +576,7 @@ for (my $i=0;$i<@servers;$i++) {
         # Opac search history
         my $newsearchcookie;
         if (C4::Context->preference('EnableOpacSearchHistory')) {
-            my @recentSearches;
-
-            # Getting the (maybe) already sent cookie
-            my $searchcookie = $cgi->cookie('KohaOpacRecentSearches');
-            if ($searchcookie){
-                $searchcookie = uri_unescape($searchcookie);
-                if (decode_json($searchcookie)) {
-                    @recentSearches = @{decode_json($searchcookie)};
-                }
-            }
+            my @recentSearches = ParseSearchHistoryCookie($cgi);
 
             # Adding the new search if needed
             if (!$borrowernumber || $borrowernumber eq '') {
diff --git a/t/Auth_ParseSearchHistoryCookie.t b/t/Auth_ParseSearchHistoryCookie.t
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..507ac91b71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/Auth_ParseSearchHistoryCookie.t
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+use Test::More tests => 3;
+
+use_ok('C4::Auth', qw/ParseSearchHistoryCookie/);
+
+my $valid_cookie = "%5B%7B%22time%22%3A1374978877%2C%22query_cgi%22%3A%22idx%3D%26q%3Dhistory%26branch_group_limit%3D%22%2C%22total%22%3A2%2C%22query_desc%22%3A%22kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20history%2C%20%22%7D%5D";
+my $expected_recent_searches = [
+    {
+        'time' => 1374978877,
+        'query_cgi' => 'idx=&q=history&branch_group_limit=',
+        'total' => 2,
+        'query_desc' => 'kw,wrdl: history, '
+    }
+];
+
+my $input = CookieSimulator->new($valid_cookie);
+my @recent_searches = ParseSearchHistoryCookie($input);
+is_deeply(\@recent_searches, $expected_recent_searches, 'parsed valid search history cookie value');
+
+# simulate bit of a Storable-based search history cookie
+my $invalid_cookie = "%04%08%0812345";
+$input = CookieSimulator->new($invalid_cookie);
+@recent_searches = ParseSearchHistoryCookie($input);
+is_deeply(\@recent_searches, [], 'got back empty search history list if given invalid cookie');
+
+package CookieSimulator;
+
+sub new {
+    my ($class, $str) = @_;
+    my $val = [ $str ];
+    return bless $val, $class;
+}
+
+sub cookie {
+    my $self = shift;
+    return $self->[0];
+}
+
+1;