diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/errorprone/NonSerializableClassRule.java b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/errorprone/NonSerializableClassRule.java
index 280bf85f93..6d3d80421f 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/errorprone/NonSerializableClassRule.java
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/errorprone/NonSerializableClassRule.java
@@ -71,8 +71,8 @@ public class NonSerializableClassRule extends AbstractJavaRule {
         ASTAnyTypeDeclaration anyTypeDeclaration = node.getFirstChildOfType(ASTAnyTypeDeclaration.class);
         for (ASTFieldDeclaration field : anyTypeDeclaration.findDescendantsOfType(ASTFieldDeclaration.class)) {
             for (ASTVariableDeclaratorId varId : field) {
-                if (SERIAL_PERSISTENT_FIELDS_NAME.equals(varId.getName())) {
-                    if (!TypeTestUtil.isA(SERIAL_PERSISTENT_FIELDS_TYPE, field)
+                if (SERIAL_PERSISTENT_FIELDS_NAME.equals(varId.getName()) && varId.getType() != null) {
+                    if (!TypeTestUtil.isA(SERIAL_PERSISTENT_FIELDS_TYPE, varId)
                             || !field.isPrivate()
                             || !field.isStatic()
                             || !field.isFinal()) {
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ public class NonSerializableClassRule extends AbstractJavaRule {
             if (fields.isEmpty()) {
                 // field initializer might be a reference to a constant
                 ASTName reference = persistentFieldsDecl.getFirstDescendantOfType(ASTName.class);
-                if (reference.getNameDeclaration() != null) {
+                if (reference != null && reference.getNameDeclaration() != null) {
                     for (ASTLiteral literal : reference.getNameDeclaration().getNode().getParent().findDescendantsOfType(ASTLiteral.class)) {
                         if (literal.isStringLiteral()) {
                             fields.add(StringUtil.removeDoubleQuotes(literal.getImage()));
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/errorprone/xml/NonSerializableClass.xml b/pmd-java/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/errorprone/xml/NonSerializableClass.xml
index c028fa3515..a64dfe0be8 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/errorprone/xml/NonSerializableClass.xml
+++ b/pmd-java/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/errorprone/xml/NonSerializableClass.xml
@@ -349,6 +349,19 @@ class Buzz implements Serializable {
     private FileInputStream stream; // not serializable
     private String name;
 }
+]]></code>
+    </test-code>
+
+    <test-code>
+        <description>NPE with empty array</description>
+        <expected-problems>0</expected-problems>
+        <code><![CDATA[
+import java.io.ObjectStreamField;
+import java.io.Serializable;
+class Buzz implements Serializable {
+    private static final ObjectStreamField[] serialPersistentFields =
+        new ObjectStreamField[0];
+}
 ]]></code>
     </test-code>
 </test-data>