diff --git a/libmamba/src/core/subdirdata.cpp b/libmamba/src/core/subdirdata.cpp
index 984e57d79f..5451f5030b 100644
--- a/libmamba/src/core/subdirdata.cpp
+++ b/libmamba/src/core/subdirdata.cpp
@@ -590,8 +590,8 @@ namespace mamba
     {
         RepoMetadata meta{ m_repodata_url,
                            Context::instance().add_pip_as_python_dependency,
-                           m_mod_etag["_etag"],
-                           m_mod_etag["_mod"] };
+                           m_mod_etag.value("_etag", ""),
+                           m_mod_etag.value("_mod", "") };
 
         return MRepo(pool, m_name, cache_path(), meta);
     }
diff --git a/libmamba/tests/repodata_json_cache/test_6.json b/libmamba/tests/repodata_json_cache/test_6.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ea3d9a5c00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libmamba/tests/repodata_json_cache/test_6.json
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"_url": "https://conda.anaconda.org/intake/osx-arm64", "_mod": "Thu, 02 Apr 2020 20:21:27 GMT", "info":{"platform":"osx","default_python_version":"2.7","arch":"arm64","subdir":"osx-arm64","default_numpy_version":"1.7"},"packages":{}}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/libmamba/tests/test_cpp.cpp b/libmamba/tests/test_cpp.cpp
index e9f4cab7de..0faad00dea 100644
--- a/libmamba/tests/test_cpp.cpp
+++ b/libmamba/tests/test_cpp.cpp
@@ -526,6 +526,11 @@ namespace mamba
 
         j = detail::read_mod_and_etag(cache_folder / "test_3.json");
         EXPECT_TRUE(j.empty());
+
+        j = detail::read_mod_and_etag(cache_folder / "test_6.json");
+        EXPECT_EQ(j["_mod"], "Thu, 02 Apr 2020 20:21:27 GMT");
+        EXPECT_EQ(j["_url"], "https://conda.anaconda.org/intake/osx-arm64");
+
         // EXPECT_EQ(j["_mod"], "Fri, 11 Feb 2022 13:52:44 GMT");
         // EXPECT_EQ(j["_url"], "file:///Users/wolfvollprecht/Programs/mamba/mamba/tests/channel_a/linux-64/repodata.json");
     }