diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/query/spi/MutableQueryOptions.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/query/spi/MutableQueryOptions.java
index 8f543877e8..551f811924 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/query/spi/MutableQueryOptions.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/query/spi/MutableQueryOptions.java
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import javax.persistence.CacheStoreMode;
 
 import org.hibernate.CacheMode;
 import org.hibernate.FlushMode;
+import org.hibernate.query.QueryLogging;
 import org.hibernate.query.ResultListTransformer;
 import org.hibernate.query.TupleTransformer;
 
@@ -37,6 +38,11 @@ public interface MutableQueryOptions extends QueryOptions {
 	 * Corollary to {@link #getCacheMode()}
 	 */
 	default void setCacheMode(CacheMode cacheMode) {
+		if ( cacheMode == null ) {
+			QueryLogging.QUERY_LOGGER.debug( "Null CacheMode passed to #setCacheMode; falling back to `NORMAL`" );
+			cacheMode = CacheMode.NORMAL;
+		}
+
 		setCacheRetrieveMode( cacheMode.getJpaRetrieveMode() );
 		setCacheStoreMode( cacheMode.getJpaStoreMode() );
 	}
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/orm/test/query/options/CacheModeTests.java b/hibernate-core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/orm/test/query/options/CacheModeTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..506db4b84d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/test/java/org/hibernate/orm/test/query/options/CacheModeTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/*
+ * Hibernate, Relational Persistence for Idiomatic Java
+ *
+ * License: GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), version 2.1 or later
+ * See the lgpl.txt file in the root directory or http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.html
+ */
+package org.hibernate.orm.test.query.options;
+
+import org.hibernate.testing.orm.domain.StandardDomainModel;
+import org.hibernate.testing.orm.junit.DomainModel;
+import org.hibernate.testing.orm.junit.SessionFactory;
+import org.hibernate.testing.orm.junit.SessionFactoryScope;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+
+/**
+ * @author Steve Ebersole
+ */
+@DomainModel( standardModels = StandardDomainModel.CONTACTS )
+@SessionFactory
+public class CacheModeTests {
+	@Test
+	public void testNullCacheMode(SessionFactoryScope scope) {
+		// tests passing null as CacheMode
+		scope.inTransaction( (session) -> {
+			session.createQuery( "select c from Contact c" )
+					.setCacheMode( null )
+					.list();
+		});
+	}
+}