diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/XContentBuilder.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/XContentBuilder.java
index 6ba6c30c26f..6aae64c4b0d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/XContentBuilder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/xcontent/XContentBuilder.java
@@ -849,6 +849,9 @@ public final class XContentBuilder {
     }
 
     public XContentBuilder value(Boolean value) throws IOException {
+        if (value == null) {
+            return nullValue();
+        }
         return value(value.booleanValue());
     }