diff --git a/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.test.ts b/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.test.ts
index 741f715ba6ebe..6ba652abda3d5 100644
--- a/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.test.ts
+++ b/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.test.ts
@@ -206,6 +206,20 @@ describe('DocumentMigrator', () => {
       );
     });
 
+    it('coerces the current Kibana version if it has a hyphen', () => {
+      const validDefinition = {
+        kibanaVersion: '3.2.0-SNAPSHOT',
+        typeRegistry: createRegistry({
+          name: 'foo',
+          convertToMultiNamespaceTypeVersion: '3.2.0',
+          namespaceType: 'multiple',
+        }),
+        minimumConvertVersion: '0.0.0',
+        log: mockLogger,
+      };
+      expect(() => new DocumentMigrator(validDefinition)).not.toThrowError();
+    });
+
     it('validates convertToMultiNamespaceTypeVersion is not used on a patch version', () => {
       const invalidDefinition = {
         kibanaVersion: '3.2.3',
diff --git a/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.ts b/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.ts
index e4b89a949d3cf..e93586ec7ce4c 100644
--- a/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.ts
+++ b/src/core/server/saved_objects/migrations/core/document_migrator.ts
@@ -159,10 +159,11 @@ export class DocumentMigrator implements VersionedTransformer {
    */
   constructor({
     typeRegistry,
-    kibanaVersion,
+    kibanaVersion: rawKibanaVersion,
     minimumConvertVersion = DEFAULT_MINIMUM_CONVERT_VERSION,
     log,
   }: DocumentMigratorOptions) {
+    const kibanaVersion = rawKibanaVersion.split('-')[0]; // coerce a semver-like string (x.y.z-SNAPSHOT) or prerelease version (x.y.z-alpha) to a regular semver (x.y.z)
     validateMigrationDefinition(typeRegistry, kibanaVersion, minimumConvertVersion);
 
     this.documentMigratorOptions = { typeRegistry, kibanaVersion, log };