diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index 26e2cb30663..4185e9b8eff 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -192,6 +192,9 @@ Bug Fixes
 * SOLR-14477: Fix incorrect 'relatedness()' calculations in json.facet 'terms' when 'prefix' option is used
   (hossman)
 
+* SOLR-14504: ZkController LiveNodesListener has NullPointerException in startup race.
+  (Colvin Cowie via ab)
+
 Other Changes
 ---------------------
 * SOLR-14197: SolrResourceLoader: marked many methods as deprecated, and in some cases rerouted exiting logic to avoid
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ZkController.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ZkController.java
index ecbb7812970..2cd376cfca9 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ZkController.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/ZkController.java
@@ -1016,7 +1016,7 @@ public class ZkController implements Closeable {
         log.warn("Unable to read autoscaling.json", e1);
       }
       if (createNodes) {
-        byte[] json = Utils.toJSON(Collections.singletonMap("timestamp", cloudManager.getTimeSource().getEpochTimeNs()));
+        byte[] json = Utils.toJSON(Collections.singletonMap("timestamp", getSolrCloudManager().getTimeSource().getEpochTimeNs()));
         for (String n : oldNodes) {
           String path = ZkStateReader.SOLR_AUTOSCALING_NODE_LOST_PATH + "/" + n;