diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/NullComparator.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/NullComparator.java
index 659729493a8..6f9ca110d27 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/NullComparator.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/NullComparator.java
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ public class NullComparator extends ByteArrayComparable {
 
   @Override
   public int compareTo(byte[] value, int offset, int length) {
-    throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
+    return compareTo(value);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/TestNullComparator.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/TestNullComparator.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..62639b8349e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/TestNullComparator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+/**
+ * 
+ *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ *  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ *  limitations under the License.
+ *  under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.filter;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.SmallTests;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
+
+@Category(SmallTests.class)
+public class TestNullComparator {
+
+  @Test
+  public void testNullValue()
+  {
+    // given
+    byte[] value = null;
+    NullComparator comparator = new NullComparator();
+
+    // when
+    int comp1 = comparator.compareTo(value);
+    int comp2 = comparator.compareTo(value, 5, 15);
+
+    // then
+    Assert.assertEquals(0, comp1);
+    Assert.assertEquals(0, comp2);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testNonNullValue() {
+    // given
+    byte[] value = new byte[] { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
+    NullComparator comparator = new NullComparator();
+
+    // when
+    int comp1 = comparator.compareTo(value);
+    int comp2 = comparator.compareTo(value, 1, 3);
+
+    // then
+    Assert.assertEquals(1, comp1);
+    Assert.assertEquals(1, comp2);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testEmptyValue() {
+    // given
+    byte[] value = new byte[] { 0 };
+    NullComparator comparator = new NullComparator();
+
+    // when
+    int comp1 = comparator.compareTo(value);
+    int comp2 = comparator.compareTo(value, 1, 3);
+
+    // then
+    Assert.assertEquals(1, comp1);
+    Assert.assertEquals(1, comp2);
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/TestSingleColumnValueFilter.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/TestSingleColumnValueFilter.java
index 1add7fb9c97..ceaff9ca2ac 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/TestSingleColumnValueFilter.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/filter/TestSingleColumnValueFilter.java
@@ -18,23 +18,19 @@
  */
 package org.apache.hadoop.hbase.filter;
 
-import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
-import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
-import java.io.DataInputStream;
-import java.io.DataOutputStream;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.KeyValue;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.SmallTests;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.filter.CompareFilter.CompareOp;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
-
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 
-import static org.junit.Assert.*;
-
 /**
  * Tests the value filter
  */
@@ -56,6 +52,7 @@ public class TestSingleColumnValueFilter {
   private static final Pattern QUICK_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("QuIcK", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE | Pattern.DOTALL);
 
   Filter basicFilter;
+  Filter nullFilter;
   Filter substrFilter;
   Filter regexFilter;
   Filter regexPatternFilter;
@@ -63,6 +60,7 @@ public class TestSingleColumnValueFilter {
   @Before
   public void setUp() throws Exception {
     basicFilter = basicFilterNew();
+    nullFilter = nullFilterNew();
     substrFilter = substrFilterNew();
     regexFilter = regexFilterNew();
     regexPatternFilter = regexFilterNew(QUICK_PATTERN);
@@ -73,6 +71,11 @@ public class TestSingleColumnValueFilter {
       CompareOp.GREATER_OR_EQUAL, VAL_2);
   }
 
+  private Filter nullFilterNew() {
+    return new SingleColumnValueFilter(COLUMN_FAMILY, COLUMN_QUALIFIER, CompareOp.NOT_EQUAL,
+        new NullComparator());
+  }
+
   private Filter substrFilterNew() {
     return new SingleColumnValueFilter(COLUMN_FAMILY, COLUMN_QUALIFIER,
       CompareOp.EQUAL,
@@ -116,6 +119,17 @@ public class TestSingleColumnValueFilter {
     assertFalse("basicFilterNotNull", filter.filterRow());
   }
 
+  private void nullFilterTests(Filter filter) throws Exception {
+    ((SingleColumnValueFilter) filter).setFilterIfMissing(true);
+    KeyValue kv = new KeyValue(ROW, COLUMN_FAMILY, COLUMN_QUALIFIER, FULLSTRING_1);
+    assertTrue("null1", filter.filterKeyValue(kv) == Filter.ReturnCode.INCLUDE);
+    assertFalse("null1FilterRow", filter.filterRow());
+    filter.reset();
+    kv = new KeyValue(ROW, COLUMN_FAMILY, Bytes.toBytes("qual2"), FULLSTRING_2);
+    assertTrue("null2", filter.filterKeyValue(kv) == Filter.ReturnCode.INCLUDE);
+    assertTrue("null2FilterRow", filter.filterRow());
+  }
+
   private void substrFilterTests(Filter filter)
       throws Exception {
     KeyValue kv = new KeyValue(ROW, COLUMN_FAMILY, COLUMN_QUALIFIER,
@@ -168,7 +182,8 @@ public class TestSingleColumnValueFilter {
    */
   @Test
   public void testStop() throws Exception {
-    basicFilterTests((SingleColumnValueFilter)basicFilter);
+    basicFilterTests((SingleColumnValueFilter) basicFilter);
+    nullFilterTests(nullFilter);
     substrFilterTests(substrFilter);
     regexFilterTests(regexFilter);
     regexPatternFilterTests(regexPatternFilter);
@@ -182,6 +197,8 @@ public class TestSingleColumnValueFilter {
   public void testSerialization() throws Exception {
     Filter newFilter = serializationTest(basicFilter);
     basicFilterTests((SingleColumnValueFilter)newFilter);
+    newFilter = serializationTest(nullFilter);
+    nullFilterTests(newFilter);
     newFilter = serializationTest(substrFilter);
     substrFilterTests(newFilter);
     newFilter = serializationTest(regexFilter);