diff --git a/java/org/apache/tomcat/dbcp/dbcp/PoolableConnectionFactory.java b/java/org/apache/tomcat/dbcp/dbcp/PoolableConnectionFactory.java
index b04fa6f412..af7126141e 100644
--- a/java/org/apache/tomcat/dbcp/dbcp/PoolableConnectionFactory.java
+++ b/java/org/apache/tomcat/dbcp/dbcp/PoolableConnectionFactory.java
@@ -640,7 +640,9 @@ public class PoolableConnectionFactory implements PoolableObjectFactory<Poolable
 
     @Override
     public void destroyObject(PoolableConnection obj) throws Exception {
-        obj.reallyClose();
+        if (obj != null) {
+            obj.reallyClose();
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/test/org/apache/tomcat/dbcp/dbcp/TestPoolableConnectionFactory.java b/test/org/apache/tomcat/dbcp/dbcp/TestPoolableConnectionFactory.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..689c3724cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/org/apache/tomcat/dbcp/dbcp/TestPoolableConnectionFactory.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.tomcat.dbcp.dbcp;
+
+import org.apache.tomcat.dbcp.pool.impl.GenericObjectPool;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+/**
+ * General tests for PoolableConnectionFactory
+ */
+public class TestPoolableConnectionFactory {
+    @Test
+    public void testDestroyObject() {
+        // test null pointer exception
+        PoolableConnectionFactory factory = new PoolableConnectionFactory(null, new GenericObjectPool(), null, null, false, false);
+        try {
+            factory.destroyObject(null);
+        } catch (NullPointerException npe) {
+            Assert.fail("The destroyObject method in PoolableConnectionFactory throws a NullPointerException");
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            // NOOP
+        }
+    }
+}