diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
index 7859fea7b02..634136e8bc0 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1336,6 +1336,9 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     policy instead of using same as active applications ordering policy.
     (Rohith Sharma K S via jianhe)
 
+    YARN-4667. RM Admin CLI for refreshNodesResources throws NPE when nothing
+    is configured. (Naganarasimha G R via devaraj)
+
 Release 2.7.3 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/AdminService.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/AdminService.java
index fcce722419c..fbc2d6f068b 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/AdminService.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/AdminService.java
@@ -69,11 +69,11 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshAdminAclsRespons
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshClusterMaxPriorityRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshClusterMaxPriorityResponse;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshNodesRequest;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshNodesResourcesRequest;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshNodesResourcesResponse;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshNodesResponse;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshQueuesRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshQueuesResponse;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshNodesResourcesRequest;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshNodesResourcesResponse;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshServiceAclsRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshServiceAclsResponse;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshSuperUserGroupsConfigurationRequest;
@@ -652,7 +652,7 @@ public class AdminService extends CompositeService implements
         newconf = new DynamicResourceConfiguration(configuration, true);
       }
 
-      if (newconf.getNodes().length == 0) {
+      if (newconf.getNodes() == null || newconf.getNodes().length == 0) {
         RMAuditLogger.logSuccess(user.getShortUserName(), argName,
             "AdminService");
         return response;
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/TestRMAdminService.java b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/TestRMAdminService.java
index e61d9fedd0a..639b95586a1 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/TestRMAdminService.java
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/hadoop-yarn-server-resourcemanager/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/yarn/server/resourcemanager/TestRMAdminService.java
@@ -45,29 +45,28 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.security.UserGroupInformation;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.authorize.AccessControlList;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.authorize.ProxyUsers;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.authorize.ServiceAuthorizationManager;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.LocalConfigurationProvider;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.DecommissionType;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.NodeId;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.NodeId;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.Resource;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.conf.HAUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.conf.YarnConfiguration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.exceptions.YarnException;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshAdminAclsRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshClusterMaxPriorityRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshNodesRequest;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshNodesResourcesRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshQueuesRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshServiceAclsRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshSuperUserGroupsConfigurationRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshUserToGroupsMappingsRequest;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RefreshNodesResourcesRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.RemoveFromClusterNodeLabelsRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.api.protocolrecords.ReplaceLabelsOnNodeRequest;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.resourcemanager.nodelabels.RMNodeLabelsManager;
+import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.resourcemanager.resource.DynamicResourceConfiguration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.resourcemanager.rmnode.RMNode;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.resourcemanager.scheduler.capacity.CapacityScheduler;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.resourcemanager.scheduler.capacity.CapacitySchedulerConfiguration;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.server.resourcemanager.resource.DynamicResourceConfiguration;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.NodeId;
-import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.api.records.Resource;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.util.ConverterUtils;
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.Assert;
@@ -176,6 +175,32 @@ public class TestRMAdminService {
     Assert.assertTrue(maxAppsAfter != maxAppsBefore);
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testAdminRefreshNodesWithoutConfiguration()
+      throws IOException, YarnException {
+    configuration.set(YarnConfiguration.RM_CONFIGURATION_PROVIDER_CLASS,
+        "org.apache.hadoop.yarn.FileSystemBasedConfigurationProvider");
+
+    // upload default configurations
+    uploadDefaultConfiguration();
+
+    try {
+      rm = new MockRM(configuration);
+      rm.init(configuration);
+      rm.start();
+    } catch (Exception ex) {
+      fail("Should not get any exceptions");
+    }
+
+    try {
+      rm.adminService
+          .refreshNodesResources(RefreshNodesResourcesRequest.newInstance());
+    } catch (Exception ex) {
+      fail("Should not get any exceptions even when no configurations "
+          + "are done for node resources refresh");
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testAdminRefreshNodesResourcesWithFileSystemBasedConfigurationProvider()
       throws IOException, YarnException {