diff --git a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/Vectors.scala b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/Vectors.scala
index 6a782b079aac3f5fe62e9a0c9a5ab7bbd35347f7..d40f13342a3d9a79dd38b9054dc7e373f90b4beb 100644
--- a/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/Vectors.scala
+++ b/mllib/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/Vectors.scala
@@ -373,8 +373,9 @@ object Vectors {
     var kv2 = 0
     val indices = v1.indices
     var squaredDistance = 0.0
-    var iv1 = indices(kv1)
+    val nnzv1 = indices.size
     val nnzv2 = v2.size
+    var iv1 = if (nnzv1 > 0) indices(kv1) else -1
    
     while (kv2 < nnzv2) {
       var score = 0.0
@@ -382,7 +383,7 @@ object Vectors {
         score = v2(kv2)
       } else {
         score = v1.values(kv1) - v2(kv2)
-        if (kv1 < indices.length - 1) {
+        if (kv1 < nnzv1 - 1) {
           kv1 += 1
           iv1 = indices(kv1)
         }
diff --git a/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/VectorsSuite.scala b/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/VectorsSuite.scala
index f99f01450992a06e4691629152d62c32ea1e4f26..85ac8ccebfc59b58940ad4a89c374e65a1776ef1 100644
--- a/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/VectorsSuite.scala
+++ b/mllib/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/mllib/linalg/VectorsSuite.scala
@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@
 
 package org.apache.spark.mllib.linalg
 
-import breeze.linalg.{DenseMatrix => BDM}
+import scala.util.Random
+
+import breeze.linalg.{DenseMatrix => BDM, squaredDistance => breezeSquaredDistance}
 import org.scalatest.FunSuite
 
 import org.apache.spark.SparkException
@@ -175,6 +177,33 @@ class VectorsSuite extends FunSuite {
     assert(v.size === x.rows)
   }
 
+  test("sqdist") {
+    val random = new Random()
+    for (m <- 1 until 1000 by 100) {
+      val nnz = random.nextInt(m)
+
+      val indices1 = random.shuffle(0 to m - 1).slice(0, nnz).sorted.toArray
+      val values1 = Array.fill(nnz)(random.nextDouble)
+      val sparseVector1 = Vectors.sparse(m, indices1, values1)
+
+      val indices2 = random.shuffle(0 to m - 1).slice(0, nnz).sorted.toArray
+      val values2 = Array.fill(nnz)(random.nextDouble)
+      val sparseVector2 = Vectors.sparse(m, indices2, values2)
+
+      val denseVector1 = Vectors.dense(sparseVector1.toArray)
+      val denseVector2 = Vectors.dense(sparseVector2.toArray)
+
+      val squaredDist = breezeSquaredDistance(sparseVector1.toBreeze, sparseVector2.toBreeze)
+
+      // SparseVector vs. SparseVector 
+      assert(Vectors.sqdist(sparseVector1, sparseVector2) ~== squaredDist relTol 1E-8) 
+      // DenseVector  vs. SparseVector
+      assert(Vectors.sqdist(denseVector1, sparseVector2) ~== squaredDist relTol 1E-8)
+      // DenseVector  vs. DenseVector
+      assert(Vectors.sqdist(denseVector1, denseVector2) ~== squaredDist relTol 1E-8)
+    }    
+  }
+
   test("foreachActive") {
     val dv = Vectors.dense(0.0, 1.2, 3.1, 0.0)
     val sv = Vectors.sparse(4, Seq((1, 1.2), (2, 3.1), (3, 0.0)))