diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/get/GetResponse.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/get/GetResponse.java
index 02c59027e39..155a8061a73 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/get/GetResponse.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/get/GetResponse.java
@@ -107,6 +107,9 @@ public class GetResponse implements ActionResponse, Streamable, Iterable<GetFiel
      * The source of the document (as a string).
      */
     public String sourceAsString() {
+        if (source == null) {
+            return null;
+        }
         return Unicode.fromBytes(source);
     }