diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/crypto/key/KeyProvider.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/crypto/key/KeyProvider.java
index 4d1674bd7b883..49742f375f390 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/crypto/key/KeyProvider.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/crypto/key/KeyProvider.java
@@ -639,13 +639,16 @@ public void invalidateCache(String name) throws IOException {
   public abstract void flush() throws IOException;
 
   /**
-   * Split the versionName in to a base name. Converts "/aaa/bbb/3" to
+   * Split the versionName in to a base name. Converts "/aaa/bbb@3" to
    * "/aaa/bbb".
    * @param versionName the version name to split
    * @return the base name of the key
    * @throws IOException raised on errors performing I/O.
    */
   public static String getBaseName(String versionName) throws IOException {
+    if (!Objects.nonNull(versionName)) {
+      throw new NullPointerException("key path variable versionName found null");
+    }
     int div = versionName.lastIndexOf('@');
     if (div == -1) {
       throw new IOException("No version in key path " + versionName);
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/crypto/key/TestKeyProvider.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/crypto/key/TestKeyProvider.java
index cb6a1fb31e6c1..b0c3b0900221b 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/crypto/key/TestKeyProvider.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/crypto/key/TestKeyProvider.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
+import static org.apache.hadoop.test.LambdaTestUtils.intercept;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
@@ -62,6 +63,8 @@ public void testParseVersionName() throws Exception {
     } catch (IOException e) {
       assertTrue(true);
     }
+    intercept(NullPointerException.class, () ->
+        KeyProvider.getBaseName(null));
   }
 
   @Test