diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/component/SearchHandler.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/component/SearchHandler.java
index 233a3b7d247..2305948ae46 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/component/SearchHandler.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/component/SearchHandler.java
@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ public void handleRequestBody(SolrQueryRequest req, SolrQueryResponse rsp) throw
     rb.isDistrib = isDistrib(req);
     tagRequestWithRequestId(rb);
 
-    if (req.getPath().contains("select")) {
+    if (req.getPath() != null && req.getPath().contains("select")) {
       if (isShard) {
         // log a simple message on start
         log.info("Start Forwarded Search Query");