diff --git a/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/centralrepository/datamodel/AbstractSqlEamDb.java b/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/centralrepository/datamodel/AbstractSqlEamDb.java
index 5dc8bff71f..e81f248c8e 100644
--- a/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/centralrepository/datamodel/AbstractSqlEamDb.java
+++ b/Core/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/centralrepository/datamodel/AbstractSqlEamDb.java
@@ -1095,6 +1095,9 @@ abstract class AbstractSqlEamDb implements EamDb {
      * @throws CorrelationAttributeNormalizationException
      */
     private String prepareGetInstancesSql(CorrelationAttributeInstance.Type aType, List<String> values) throws CorrelationAttributeNormalizationException {
+        if (aType == null) {
+            throw new CorrelationAttributeNormalizationException("Cannot get instances for null correlation type");
+        }
         String tableName = EamDbUtil.correlationTypeToInstanceTableName(aType);
         String sql
                 = "SELECT "