diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 4327045760..f366b147b8 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ def read_requirements(filename):
     "protobuf3-to-dict>=0.1.5,<1.0",
     "smdebug_rulesconfig==1.0.1",
     "importlib-metadata>=1.4.0,<5.0",
-    "packaging>=20.0",
+    "packaging==20.9",
     "pandas",
     "pathos",
     "schema",
diff --git a/src/sagemaker/jumpstart/cache.py b/src/sagemaker/jumpstart/cache.py
index 202edff9ad..db607770a7 100644
--- a/src/sagemaker/jumpstart/cache.py
+++ b/src/sagemaker/jumpstart/cache.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 import boto3
 import botocore
 from packaging.version import Version
-from packaging.specifiers import SpecifierSet
+from packaging.specifiers import SpecifierSet, InvalidSpecifier
 from sagemaker.jumpstart.constants import (
     ENV_VARIABLE_JUMPSTART_MANIFEST_LOCAL_ROOT_DIR_OVERRIDE,
     ENV_VARIABLE_JUMPSTART_SPECS_LOCAL_ROOT_DIR_OVERRIDE,
@@ -371,7 +371,10 @@ def _select_version(
                 return None
             return str(max(available_versions))
 
-        spec = SpecifierSet(f"=={semantic_version_str}")
+        try:
+            spec = SpecifierSet(f"=={semantic_version_str}")
+        except InvalidSpecifier:
+            raise KeyError(f"Bad semantic version: {semantic_version_str}")
         available_versions_filtered = list(spec.filter(available_versions))
         return (
             str(max(available_versions_filtered)) if available_versions_filtered != [] else None