diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha1/defaults.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha1/defaults.go
index c269d3c2356..6dfa9614331 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha1/defaults.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/apis/kubeadm/v1alpha1/defaults.go
@@ -21,11 +21,12 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	DefaultServiceDNSDomain  = "cluster.local"
-	DefaultServicesSubnet    = "10.96.0.0/12"
-	DefaultKubernetesVersion = "stable"
-	DefaultAPIBindPort       = 6443
-	DefaultDiscoveryBindPort = 9898
+	DefaultServiceDNSDomain          = "cluster.local"
+	DefaultServicesSubnet            = "10.96.0.0/12"
+	DefaultKubernetesVersion         = "stable"
+	DefaultKubernetesFallbackVersion = "v1.4.6"
+	DefaultAPIBindPort               = 6443
+	DefaultDiscoveryBindPort         = 9898
 )
 
 func addDefaultingFuncs(scheme *runtime.Scheme) error {
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/init.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/init.go
index 8e0f053e5f7..aa889816701 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/init.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/init.go
@@ -196,7 +196,11 @@ func NewInit(cfgPath string, cfg *kubeadmapi.MasterConfiguration, skipPreFlight
 	// validate version argument
 	ver, err := kubeadmutil.KubernetesReleaseVersion(cfg.KubernetesVersion)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		if cfg.KubernetesVersion != kubeadmapiext.DefaultKubernetesVersion {
+			return nil, err
+		} else {
+			ver = kubeadmapiext.DefaultKubernetesFallbackVersion
+		}
 	}
 	cfg.KubernetesVersion = ver
 	fmt.Println("Using Kubernetes version:", ver)