diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rsgroup/RSGroupInfoManagerImpl.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rsgroup/RSGroupInfoManagerImpl.java
index 1d076855ff8..038e4dfc0e0 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rsgroup/RSGroupInfoManagerImpl.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/rsgroup/RSGroupInfoManagerImpl.java
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ final class RSGroupInfoManagerImpl implements RSGroupInfoManager {
         }
         for (String znode : children) {
           byte[] data = ZKUtil.getData(watcher, ZNodePaths.joinZNode(groupBasePath, znode));
-          if (data.length > 0) {
+          if (data != null && data.length > 0) {
             ProtobufUtil.expectPBMagicPrefix(data);
             ByteArrayInputStream bis =
               new ByteArrayInputStream(data, ProtobufUtil.lengthOfPBMagic(), data.length);