diff --git a/RecoTauTag/RecoTau/python/tools/runTauIdMVA.py b/RecoTauTag/RecoTau/python/tools/runTauIdMVA.py
index 311ad4065215c..ee6e5c9c0ebd6 100644
--- a/RecoTauTag/RecoTau/python/tools/runTauIdMVA.py
+++ b/RecoTauTag/RecoTau/python/tools/runTauIdMVA.py
@@ -67,10 +67,10 @@ def get_cmssw_version_number(klass, debug = False):
         """returns '(release, subversion, patch)' (without 'CMSSW_')"""
         v = klass.get_cmssw_version().split("CMSSW_")[1].split("_")[0:3]
         if debug: print ("get_cmssw_version_number:", v)
-        if v[2] == "X":
-            patch = -1
-        else:
+        try:
             patch = int(v[2])
+        except:
+            patch = -1
         return int(v[0]), int(v[1]), patch
 
     @staticmethod