I spawned a regular piston (ID 33) with the orientation data 6 (which is not a normal placeable direction) per /setblock command and then just wondered what happens if you power it. Well, the game crashed, that is kinda what I expected :/
(Sorry if this is a duplicate, but I did not find any by using the search) The marked duplicate is closed as "invalid" as it was created using external tools. This is not (Note the last line of the crash report:

Is Modded: Probably not. Jar signature remains and both client + server brands are untouched.

Also I could not test if this happens in previous versions, but I believe so as you can place such a block with external tools (such as WorldEdit).
//EDIT: Yes, this happens.

If you don't believe me, reproduce:
Type "/setblock ~ ~ ~ 33 6 replace"
Provide redstone power to the spawned block.

Crash log and screenshot of the piston attached.