diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java
index cb0cf39760..c7046708ba 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSNamesystem.java
@@ -8747,9 +8747,15 @@ private boolean isObserver() {
 
   private void checkBlockLocationsWhenObserver(LocatedBlocks blocks, String src)
       throws ObserverRetryOnActiveException {
-    for (LocatedBlock b : blocks.getLocatedBlocks()) {
-      if (b.getLocations() == null || b.getLocations().length == 0) {
-        throw new ObserverRetryOnActiveException("Zero blocklocations for " + src);
+    if (blocks == null) {
+      return;
+    }
+    List<LocatedBlock> locatedBlockList = blocks.getLocatedBlocks();
+    if (locatedBlockList != null) {
+      for (LocatedBlock b : locatedBlockList) {
+        if (b.getLocations() == null || b.getLocations().length == 0) {
+          throw new ObserverRetryOnActiveException("Zero blocklocations for " + src);
+        }
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/TestObserverNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/TestObserverNode.java
index a910117194..d7e2d11854 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/TestObserverNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/ha/TestObserverNode.java
@@ -608,6 +608,29 @@ public void run() {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testSimpleReadEmptyDirOrFile() throws IOException {
+    // read empty dir
+    dfs.mkdirs(new Path("/emptyDir"));
+    assertSentTo(0);
+
+    dfs.getClient().listPaths("/", new byte[0], true);
+    assertSentTo(2);
+
+    dfs.getClient().getLocatedFileInfo("/emptyDir", true);
+    assertSentTo(2);
+
+    // read empty file
+    dfs.create(new Path("/emptyFile"), (short)1);
+    assertSentTo(0);
+
+    dfs.getClient().getLocatedFileInfo("/emptyFile", true);
+    assertSentTo(2);
+
+    dfs.getClient().getBlockLocations("/emptyFile", 0, 1);
+    assertSentTo(2);
+  }
+
   private static void assertSentTo(DistributedFileSystem fs, int nnIdx)
       throws IOException {
     assertTrue("Request was not sent to the expected namenode " + nnIdx,