diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/HiveClientImpl.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/HiveClientImpl.scala
index cf1ff55c96fc9..4e51f29c1cf66 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/HiveClientImpl.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/HiveClientImpl.scala
@@ -134,7 +134,18 @@ private[hive] class HiveClientImpl(
   }
 
   /** Returns the configuration for the current session. */
-  def conf: HiveConf = SessionState.get().getConf
+  def conf: HiveConf = {
+    var ss = SessionState.get()
+    // SessionState is lazy initialization, it can be null here
+    if (ss == null) {
+      val original = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader
+      val conf = new HiveConf(classOf[SessionState])
+      conf.setClassLoader(original)
+      ss = new SessionState(conf)
+      SessionState.start(ss)
+    }
+    ss.getConf
+  }
 
   override def getConf(key: String, defaultValue: String): String = {
     conf.get(key, defaultValue)