diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/attributes_compat.yml b/changelogs/fragments/attributes_compat.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..74dabd3ef1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/attributes_compat.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - make previous versions compatible we new attributres w/o implementing them.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/doc.py b/lib/ansible/cli/doc.py
index ac1bf38a8d2..e658f07bcd9 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/doc.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/doc.py
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ class DocCLI(CLI):
 
     # default ignore list for detailed views
     IGNORE = ('module', 'docuri', 'version_added', 'short_description', 'now_date', 'plainexamples', 'returndocs', 'collection')
+    JSON_IGNORE = ('attributes',)
 
     # Warning: If you add more elements here, you also need to add it to the docsite build (in the
     # ansible-community/antsibull repo)
@@ -262,8 +263,13 @@ class DocCLI(CLI):
                 plugin_docs[plugin] = DocCLI._combine_plugin_doc(plugin, plugin_type, doc, plainexamples, returndocs, metadata)
 
             if do_json:
+                for entry in plugin_docs.keys():
+                    for forbid in DocCLI.JSON_IGNORE:
+                        try:
+                            del plugin_docs[entry]['doc'][forbid]
+                        except (KeyError, TypeError):
+                            pass
                 jdump(plugin_docs)
-
             else:
                 # Some changes to how plain text docs are formatted
                 text = []
@@ -278,7 +284,6 @@ class DocCLI(CLI):
 
                 if text:
                     DocCLI.pager(''.join(text))
-
         return 0
 
     @staticmethod
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/doc_fragments/action_common_attributes.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/doc_fragments/action_common_attributes.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ea8fa7c9c6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/doc_fragments/action_common_attributes.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+# Copyright: Ansible Project
+# GNU General Public License v3.0+ (see COPYING or https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt)
+from __future__ import (absolute_import, division, print_function)
+__metaclass__ = type
+
+
+# NOTE: this file is here to allow modules using the new attributes feature to
+#       work w/o errors in this version of ansible, it does NOT provide the full
+#       attributes feature, just a shim to avoid the fragment not being found.
+
+class ModuleDocFragment(object):
+
+    # Standard documentation fragment
+    DOCUMENTATION = r'''
+options: {}
+'''
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/sanity/validate-modules/validate_modules/schema.py b/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/sanity/validate-modules/validate_modules/schema.py
index 42a2ada4afb..50254f2d2b7 100644
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/sanity/validate-modules/validate_modules/schema.py
+++ b/test/lib/ansible_test/_data/sanity/validate-modules/validate_modules/schema.py
@@ -448,6 +448,7 @@ def doc_schema(module_name, for_collection=False, deprecated_module=False):
         'options': Any(None, *list_dict_option_schema(for_collection)),
         'extends_documentation_fragment': Any(list_string_types, *string_types),
         'version_added_collection': collection_name,
+        'attributes': object,
     }
 
     if for_collection: