diff --git a/activemq-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/transport/vm/VMTransport.java b/activemq-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/transport/vm/VMTransport.java
index 5f75a3c7a1..9ef7860ecb 100644
--- a/activemq-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/transport/vm/VMTransport.java
+++ b/activemq-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/transport/vm/VMTransport.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import org.apache.activemq.transport.ResponseCallback;
 import org.apache.activemq.transport.Transport;
 import org.apache.activemq.transport.TransportDisposedIOException;
 import org.apache.activemq.transport.TransportListener;
+import org.apache.activemq.util.IOExceptionSupport;
 import org.apache.activemq.wireformat.WireFormat;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -270,7 +271,14 @@ public class VMTransport implements Transport, Task {
 
         Object command = mq.poll();
         if (command != null && !disposed.get()) {
-            tl.onCommand(command);
+            try {
+                tl.onCommand(command);
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                try {
+                    peer.transportListener.onException(IOExceptionSupport.create(e));
+                } catch (Exception ignore) {
+                }
+            }
             return !mq.isEmpty() && !disposed.get();
         } else {
             if(disposed.get()) {
diff --git a/activemq-unit-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/bugs/embedded/ThreadExplorer.java b/activemq-unit-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/bugs/embedded/ThreadExplorer.java
index eab5fd148f..1d6e204dac 100644
--- a/activemq-unit-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/bugs/embedded/ThreadExplorer.java
+++ b/activemq-unit-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/bugs/embedded/ThreadExplorer.java
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ public class ThreadExplorer
             if (thread != null)
             {
                 out.append("* [" + thread.getName() + "] " + (thread.isDaemon() ? "(Daemon)" : "")
-                        + " Group: " + thread.getThreadGroup().getName() + "\n");
+                        + " Group: " + (thread.getThreadGroup() != null ? thread.getThreadGroup().getName() : "") + "\n");
             }
             else
             {