diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFileScanner.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFileScanner.java
index 060875603c0..02a4cae2ce8 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFileScanner.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/regionserver/StoreFileScanner.java
@@ -257,9 +257,9 @@ public class StoreFileScanner implements KeyValueScanner {
     while(enforceMVCC
         && cur != null
         && (cur.getMvccVersion() > readPt)) {
-      hfs.next();
+      boolean hasNext = hfs.next();
       setCurrentCell(hfs.getKeyValue());
-      if (this.stopSkippingKVsIfNextRow
+      if (hasNext && this.stopSkippingKVsIfNextRow
           && getComparator().compareRows(cur.getRowArray(), cur.getRowOffset(),
               cur.getRowLength(), startKV.getRowArray(), startKV.getRowOffset(),
               startKV.getRowLength()) > 0) {