diff --git a/hapi-fhir-docs/src/main/resources/ca/uhn/hapi/fhir/changelog/6_2_0/4185-packageloader-npe.yaml b/hapi-fhir-docs/src/main/resources/ca/uhn/hapi/fhir/changelog/6_2_0/4185-packageloader-npe.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b69eac476d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hapi-fhir-docs/src/main/resources/ca/uhn/hapi/fhir/changelog/6_2_0/4185-packageloader-npe.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+type: fix
+issue: 4185
+jira: SMILE-5340
+title: "When DaoConfig UpdateWithHistoryRewriteEnabled is enabled, the package loader throws a NullPointerException.  
+This has been corrected."
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/dao/BaseHapiFhirResourceDao.java b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/dao/BaseHapiFhirResourceDao.java
index e10ba2de5ec..b1dcb49d8b7 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/dao/BaseHapiFhirResourceDao.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/dao/BaseHapiFhirResourceDao.java
@@ -114,7 +114,6 @@ import ca.uhn.fhir.validation.IValidatorModule;
 import ca.uhn.fhir.validation.ValidationOptions;
 import ca.uhn.fhir.validation.ValidationResult;
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
-import com.google.gson.Gson;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.Validate;
 import org.hl7.fhir.instance.model.api.IBaseCoding;
 import org.hl7.fhir.instance.model.api.IBaseMetaType;
@@ -1686,7 +1685,7 @@ public abstract class BaseHapiFhirResourceDao<T extends IBaseResource> extends B
 		Runnable onRollback = () -> theResource.getIdElement().setValue(id);
 
 		// Execute the update in a retryable transaction
-		if (myDaoConfig.isUpdateWithHistoryRewriteEnabled() && theRequest.isRewriteHistory()) {
+		if (myDaoConfig.isUpdateWithHistoryRewriteEnabled() && theRequest != null && theRequest.isRewriteHistory()) {
 			return myTransactionService.execute(theRequest, theTransactionDetails, tx -> doUpdateWithHistoryRewrite(theResource, theRequest, theTransactionDetails), onRollback);
 		} else {
 			return myTransactionService.execute(theRequest, theTransactionDetails, tx -> doUpdate(theResource, theMatchUrl, thePerformIndexing, theForceUpdateVersion, theRequest, theTransactionDetails), onRollback);
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/packages/PackageInstallerSvcImpl.java b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/packages/PackageInstallerSvcImpl.java
index d9b8cba3508..5918f00accf 100644
--- a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/packages/PackageInstallerSvcImpl.java
+++ b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-base/src/main/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/packages/PackageInstallerSvcImpl.java
@@ -393,12 +393,12 @@ public class PackageInstallerSvcImpl implements IPackageInstallerSvc {
 		}
 	}
 
-	private DaoMethodOutcome updateResource(IFhirResourceDao theDao, IBaseResource theResource) {
+	DaoMethodOutcome updateResource(IFhirResourceDao theDao, IBaseResource theResource) {
 		if (myPartitionSettings.isPartitioningEnabled()) {
 			SystemRequestDetails requestDetails = newSystemRequestDetails();
 			return theDao.update(theResource, requestDetails);
 		} else {
-			return theDao.update(theResource);
+			return theDao.update(theResource, new SystemRequestDetails());
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-test-r4/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/packages/PackageInstallerSvcImplRewriteHistoryTest.java b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-test-r4/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/packages/PackageInstallerSvcImplRewriteHistoryTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a97a46d43fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hapi-fhir-jpaserver-test-r4/src/test/java/ca/uhn/fhir/jpa/packages/PackageInstallerSvcImplRewriteHistoryTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+package ca.uhn.fhir.jpa.packages;
+
+import ca.uhn.fhir.jpa.test.BaseJpaR4Test;
+import ca.uhn.fhir.model.primitive.IdDt;
+import org.hl7.fhir.instance.model.api.IIdType;
+import org.hl7.fhir.r4.model.ConceptMap;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
+
+public class PackageInstallerSvcImplRewriteHistoryTest extends BaseJpaR4Test {
+	public static final IIdType CONCEPT_MAP_TEST_ID = new IdDt("ConceptMap/PackageInstallerSvcImplRewriteHistoryTest");
+	@Autowired
+	PackageInstallerSvcImpl mySvc;
+
+
+	@AfterEach
+	void after() {
+		myDaoConfig.setUpdateWithHistoryRewriteEnabled(false);
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void svc_notnull() {
+		assertNotNull(mySvc);
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void updateWithHistoryRewriteEnabled() {
+		// setup
+		myDaoConfig.setUpdateWithHistoryRewriteEnabled(true);
+
+		ConceptMap conceptMap = new ConceptMap();
+		conceptMap.setId(CONCEPT_MAP_TEST_ID);
+		conceptMap.setUrl("http://example.com/ConceptMap/testcm");
+
+		// execute
+		// red-green this threw a NPE before the fix
+		mySvc.updateResource(myConceptMapDao, conceptMap);
+
+		// verify
+		ConceptMap readConceptMap = myConceptMapDao.read(CONCEPT_MAP_TEST_ID);
+		assertEquals(CONCEPT_MAP_TEST_ID.toString(), readConceptMap.getIdElement().toVersionless().toString());
+
+	}
+}