diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 954f4d897e311..2f3b006a38853 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -234,28 +234,28 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
             <artifactId>jackson-core</artifactId>
-            <version>2.4.2</version>
+            <version>2.4.4</version>
             <scope>compile</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat</groupId>
             <artifactId>jackson-dataformat-smile</artifactId>
-            <version>2.4.2</version>
+            <version>2.4.4</version>
             <scope>compile</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat</groupId>
             <artifactId>jackson-dataformat-yaml</artifactId>
-            <version>2.4.2</version>
+            <version>2.4.4</version>
             <scope>compile</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat</groupId>
             <artifactId>jackson-dataformat-cbor</artifactId>
-            <version>2.4.2</version>
+            <version>2.4.4</version>
             <scope>compile</scope>
         </dependency>
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/XContentFactory.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/XContentFactory.java
index ca3e2f7bcd25b..2eb1b16c6bbd9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/XContentFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/XContentFactory.java
@@ -208,14 +208,16 @@ public static XContentType xContentType(byte[] data) {
      * Guesses the content type based on the provided input stream.
      */
     public static XContentType xContentType(InputStream si) throws IOException {
-        int first = si.read();
-        if (first == -1) {
+        int iFirst = si.read();
+        if (iFirst == -1) {
             return null;
         }
-        int second = si.read();
-        if (second == -1) {
+        byte first = (byte) iFirst;
+        int iSecond = si.read();
+        if (iSecond == -1) {
             return null;
         }
+        byte second = (byte) iSecond;
         if (first == SmileConstants.HEADER_BYTE_1 && second == SmileConstants.HEADER_BYTE_2) {
             int third = si.read();
             if (third == SmileConstants.HEADER_BYTE_3) {
@@ -231,9 +233,27 @@ public static XContentType xContentType(InputStream si) throws IOException {
                 return XContentType.YAML;
             }
         }
-        if (first == (CBORConstants.BYTE_OBJECT_INDEFINITE & 0xff)){
+        // CBOR logic similar to CBORFactory#hasCBORFormat
+        if (first == CBORConstants.BYTE_OBJECT_INDEFINITE){
+            return XContentType.CBOR;
+        }
+        if (CBORConstants.hasMajorType(CBORConstants.MAJOR_TYPE_TAG, first)) {
+            // Actually, specific "self-describe tag" is a very good indicator
+            int iThird = si.read();
+            if (iThird == -1) {
+                return null;
+            }
+            byte third = (byte) iThird;
+            if (first == (byte) 0xD9 && second == (byte) 0xD9 && third == (byte) 0xF7) {
+                return XContentType.CBOR;
+            }
+        }
+        // for small objects, some encoders just encode as major type object, we can safely
+        // say its CBOR since it doesn't contradict SMILE or JSON, and its a last resort
+        if (CBORConstants.hasMajorType(CBORConstants.MAJOR_TYPE_OBJECT, first)) {
             return XContentType.CBOR;
         }
+
         for (int i = 2; i < GUESS_HEADER_LENGTH; i++) {
             int val = si.read();
             if (val == -1) {
@@ -279,9 +299,23 @@ public static XContentType xContentType(BytesReference bytes) {
         if (length > 2 && first == '-' && bytes.get(1) == '-' && bytes.get(2) == '-') {
             return XContentType.YAML;
         }
-        if (first == CBORConstants.BYTE_OBJECT_INDEFINITE){
+        // CBOR logic similar to CBORFactory#hasCBORFormat
+        if (first == CBORConstants.BYTE_OBJECT_INDEFINITE && length > 1){
             return XContentType.CBOR;
         }
+        if (CBORConstants.hasMajorType(CBORConstants.MAJOR_TYPE_TAG, first) && length > 2) {
+            // Actually, specific "self-describe tag" is a very good indicator
+            if (first == (byte) 0xD9 && bytes.get(1) == (byte) 0xD9 && bytes.get(2) == (byte) 0xF7) {
+                return XContentType.CBOR;
+            }
+        }
+        // for small objects, some encoders just encode as major type object, we can safely
+        // say its CBOR since it doesn't contradict SMILE or JSON, and its a last resort
+        if (CBORConstants.hasMajorType(CBORConstants.MAJOR_TYPE_OBJECT, first)) {
+            return XContentType.CBOR;
+        }
+
+        // a last chance for JSON
         for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
             if (bytes.get(i) == '{') {
                 return XContentType.JSON;
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/XContentFactoryTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/XContentFactoryTests.java
index e76293322535d..076c3e2629d0c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/XContentFactoryTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/XContentFactoryTests.java
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.cbor.CBORConstants;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.smile.SmileConstants;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.BytesStreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.ElasticsearchTestCase;
@@ -69,4 +71,21 @@ private void testGuessType(XContentType type) throws IOException {
             assertThat(XContentFactory.xContentType(builder.string()), equalTo(type));
         }
     }
+
+    public void testCBORBasedOnMajorObjectDetection() {
+        // for this {"foo"=> 5} perl encoder for example generates:
+        byte[] bytes = new byte[] {(byte) 0xA1, (byte) 0x43, (byte) 0x66, (byte) 6f, (byte) 6f, (byte) 5};
+        assertThat(XContentFactory.xContentType(bytes), equalTo(XContentType.CBOR));
+
+        // also make sure major type check doesn't collide with SMILE and JSON, just in case
+        assertThat(CBORConstants.hasMajorType(CBORConstants.MAJOR_TYPE_OBJECT, SmileConstants.HEADER_BYTE_1), equalTo(false));
+        assertThat(CBORConstants.hasMajorType(CBORConstants.MAJOR_TYPE_OBJECT, (byte) '{'), equalTo(false));
+        assertThat(CBORConstants.hasMajorType(CBORConstants.MAJOR_TYPE_OBJECT, (byte) ' '), equalTo(false));
+        assertThat(CBORConstants.hasMajorType(CBORConstants.MAJOR_TYPE_OBJECT, (byte) '-'), equalTo(false));
+    }
+
+    public void testCBORBasedOnMagicHeaderDetection() {
+        byte[] bytes = new byte[] {(byte) 0xd9, (byte) 0xd9, (byte) 0xf7};
+        assertThat(XContentFactory.xContentType(bytes), equalTo(XContentType.CBOR));
+    }
 }