diff --git a/rest_framework/filters.py b/rest_framework/filters.py
index 429b79c77..aea9d3a57 100644
--- a/rest_framework/filters.py
+++ b/rest_framework/filters.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ from functools import reduce
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.db import models
 from django.db.models.constants import LOOKUP_SEP
+from django.db.models.sql.constants import ORDER_PATTERN
 from django.template import loader
 from django.utils import six
 from django.utils.encoding import force_text
@@ -268,7 +269,7 @@ class OrderingFilter(BaseFilterBackend):
 
     def remove_invalid_fields(self, queryset, fields, view, request):
         valid_fields = [item[0] for item in self.get_valid_fields(queryset, view, {'request': request})]
-        return [term for term in fields if term.lstrip('-') in valid_fields]
+        return [term for term in fields if term.lstrip('-') in valid_fields and ORDER_PATTERN.match(term)]
 
     def filter_queryset(self, request, queryset, view):
         ordering = self.get_ordering(request, queryset, view)
diff --git a/tests/test_filters.py b/tests/test_filters.py
index 15eb2ccf3..b2de80998 100644
--- a/tests/test_filters.py
+++ b/tests/test_filters.py
@@ -773,13 +773,14 @@ class OrderingFilterTests(TestCase):
             ordering_fields = ('text',)
 
         view = OrderingListView.as_view()
-        request = factory.get('/', {'ordering':'--text'})
+        request = factory.get('/', {'ordering': '--text'})
         response = view(request)
         assert response.data == [
             {'id': 3, 'title': 'xwv', 'text': 'cde'},
             {'id': 2, 'title': 'yxw', 'text': 'bcd'},
             {'id': 1, 'title': 'zyx', 'text': 'abc'},
         ]
+
     def test_incorrectfield_ordering(self):
         class OrderingListView(generics.ListAPIView):
             queryset = OrderingFilterModel.objects.all()
@@ -899,6 +900,7 @@ class OrderingFilterTests(TestCase):
             queryset = OrderingFilterModel.objects.all()
             filter_backends = (filters.OrderingFilter,)
             ordering = ('title',)
+
             # note: no ordering_fields and serializer_class specified
 
             def get_serializer_class(self):