diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/IndicesReplicationOperationRequest.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/IndicesReplicationOperationRequest.java
index be57834e7f0..2cac917b41a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/IndicesReplicationOperationRequest.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/support/replication/IndicesReplicationOperationRequest.java
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ public class IndicesReplicationOperationRequest<T extends IndicesReplicationOper
     }
 
     public T ignoreIndices(IgnoreIndices ignoreIndices) {
+        if (ignoreIndices == null) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("IgnoreIndices must not be null");
+        }
         this.ignoreIndices = ignoreIndices;
         return (T) this;
     }
@@ -94,6 +97,9 @@ public class IndicesReplicationOperationRequest<T extends IndicesReplicationOper
      */
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     public final T replicationType(ReplicationType replicationType) {
+        if (replicationType == null) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("ReplicationType must not be null");
+        }
         this.replicationType = replicationType;
         return (T) this;
     }
@@ -114,6 +120,9 @@ public class IndicesReplicationOperationRequest<T extends IndicesReplicationOper
      */
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     public final T consistencyLevel(WriteConsistencyLevel consistencyLevel) {
+        if (consistencyLevel == null) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("WriteConsistencyLevel must not be null");
+        }
         this.consistencyLevel = consistencyLevel;
         return (T) this;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/deletebyquery/RestDeleteByQueryAction.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/deletebyquery/RestDeleteByQueryAction.java
index 63124abd497..fc4b241f0e0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/deletebyquery/RestDeleteByQueryAction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/rest/action/deletebyquery/RestDeleteByQueryAction.java
@@ -84,8 +84,9 @@ public class RestDeleteByQueryAction extends BaseRestHandler {
             if (consistencyLevel != null) {
                 deleteByQueryRequest.consistencyLevel(WriteConsistencyLevel.fromString(consistencyLevel));
             }
-            if (request.hasParam("ignore_indices")) {
-                deleteByQueryRequest.ignoreIndices(IgnoreIndices.fromString(request.param("ignore_indices")));
+            final String ignoreIndices = request.param("ignore_indices");
+            if (ignoreIndices != null) {
+                deleteByQueryRequest.ignoreIndices(IgnoreIndices.fromString(ignoreIndices));
             }
         } catch (Exception e) {
             try {