diff --git a/swift/obj/server.py b/swift/obj/server.py
index 49d33ca..ca85a01 100644
--- a/swift/obj/server.py
+++ b/swift/obj/server.py
@@ -443,9 +443,12 @@ class ObjectController(object):
                 }
                 metadata.update(val for val in request.headers.iteritems()
                                 if is_user_meta('object', val[0]))
-                for header_key in (
-                        request.headers.get('X-Backend-Replication-Headers') or
-                        self.allowed_headers):
+                if 'X-Backend-Replication-Headers' in request.headers:
+                    store_headers = request.headers[
+                        'X-Backend-Replication-Headers'].split()
+                else:
+                    store_headers = self.allowed_headers
+                for header_key in store_headers:
                     if header_key in request.headers:
                         header_caps = header_key.title()
                         metadata[header_caps] = request.headers[header_key]