diff --git a/tooling/hibernate-enhance-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/hibernate/orm/tooling/maven/MavenEnhancePlugin.java b/tooling/hibernate-enhance-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/hibernate/orm/tooling/maven/MavenEnhancePlugin.java
index 1ef49917c3..2becb41c8a 100644
--- a/tooling/hibernate-enhance-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/hibernate/orm/tooling/maven/MavenEnhancePlugin.java
+++ b/tooling/hibernate-enhance-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/hibernate/orm/tooling/maven/MavenEnhancePlugin.java
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ public class MavenEnhancePlugin extends AbstractMojo {
 		}
 
 		List<String> classesToEnhance = new ArrayList<>();
-		if(classNames.length() >= 1) {
+		if(classNames != null && classNames.length() >= 1) {
 			classesToEnhance = Arrays.asList(classNames.split(","));
 		}