diff --git a/pkg/api/entries.go b/pkg/api/entries.go
index cb1ce510e..c16220389 100644
--- a/pkg/api/entries.go
+++ b/pkg/api/entries.go
@@ -338,11 +338,11 @@ func SearchLogQueryHandler(params entries.SearchLogQueryParams) middleware.Respo
 				resultPayload = append(resultPayload, logEntry)
 				continue
 			}
-			uuid, err := sharding.GetUUIDFromIDString(entryID)
-			if err != nil {
-				return handleRekorAPIError(params, http.StatusBadRequest, err, fmt.Sprintf("could not get UUID from ID string %v", entryID))
+			// At this point, check if we got a uuid instead of an EntryID, so search for the hash later
+			uuid := entryID
+			if err := sharding.ValidateUUID(uuid); err != nil {
+				return handleRekorAPIError(params, http.StatusBadRequest, err, fmt.Sprintf("validating uuid %s", uuid))
 			}
-			// If we couldn't get the entry, search for the hash later
 			hash, err := hex.DecodeString(uuid)
 			if err != nil {
 				return handleRekorAPIError(params, http.StatusBadRequest, err, malformedUUID)