diff --git a/platform/lang-api/src/com/intellij/codeInspection/ProblemsHolder.java b/platform/lang-api/src/com/intellij/codeInspection/ProblemsHolder.java
index 2ad696ce1e9f..a89139a08f70 100644
--- a/platform/lang-api/src/com/intellij/codeInspection/ProblemsHolder.java
+++ b/platform/lang-api/src/com/intellij/codeInspection/ProblemsHolder.java
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@ import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nls;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
 
-import java.text.MessageFormat;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.ConcurrentModificationException;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -144,7 +143,14 @@ public class ProblemsHolder {
     String message;
     if (reference instanceof EmptyResolveMessageProvider) {
       String pattern = ((EmptyResolveMessageProvider)reference).getUnresolvedMessagePattern();
-      message = BundleBase.format(pattern, reference.getCanonicalText()); // avoid double formatting
+      try {
+        message = BundleBase.format(pattern, reference.getCanonicalText()); // avoid double formatting
+      }
+      catch (IllegalArgumentException ex) {
+        // unresolvedMessage provided by third-party reference contains wrong format string (e.g. {}), tolerate it
+        message = pattern;
+        LOG.info(pattern);
+      }
     }
     else {
       message = CodeInsightBundle.message("error.cannot.resolve.default.message", reference.getCanonicalText());