diff --git a/_pytest/assertion/rewrite.py b/_pytest/assertion/rewrite.py
index 95bf4117d..589dc07d2 100644
--- a/_pytest/assertion/rewrite.py
+++ b/_pytest/assertion/rewrite.py
@@ -308,7 +308,10 @@ def _read_pyc(source, pyc):
         if (len(data) != 8 or data[:4] != imp.get_magic() or
                 struct.unpack("<l", data[4:])[0] != mtime):
             return None
-        co = marshal.load(fp)
+        try:
+            co = marshal.load(fp)
+        except (EOFError, ValueError, TypeError):  # see docs
+            return None
         if not isinstance(co, types.CodeType):
             # That's interesting....
             return None
diff --git a/testing/test_assertrewrite.py b/testing/test_assertrewrite.py
index 21e22c15f..72e2d4e10 100644
--- a/testing/test_assertrewrite.py
+++ b/testing/test_assertrewrite.py
@@ -539,3 +539,25 @@ class TestAssertionRewriteHookDetails(object):
         result.stdout.fnmatch_lines([
             '* 1 passed*',
         ])
+
+    def test_read_pyc(self, tmpdir):
+        """
+        Ensure that the `_read_pyc` can properly deal with corrupted pyc files.
+        In those circumstances it should just give up instead of generating
+        an exception that is propagated to the caller.
+        """
+        import py_compile
+        from _pytest.assertion.rewrite import _read_pyc
+
+        source = tmpdir.join('source.py')
+        pyc = source + 'c'
+
+        source.write('def test(): pass')
+        py_compile.compile(str(source), str(pyc))
+
+        contents = pyc.read(mode='rb')
+        strip_bytes = 20  # header is around 8 bytes, strip a little more
+        assert len(contents) > strip_bytes
+        pyc.write(contents[:strip_bytes], mode='wb')
+
+        assert _read_pyc(source, str(pyc)) is None  # no error