diff --git a/impl/src/main/java/com/sun/el/parser/AstValue.java b/impl/src/main/java/com/sun/el/parser/AstValue.java
index dfe0f82..0b86e6e 100644
--- a/impl/src/main/java/com/sun/el/parser/AstValue.java
+++ b/impl/src/main/java/com/sun/el/parser/AstValue.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 1997, 2018 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 1997, 2024 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  *
  * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
  * terms of the Eclipse Public License v. 2.0, which is available at
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@
             if (ctx.isPropertyResolved()) {
                 value = targetValue;
             } else {
-                if (value != null || targetType.isPrimitive()) {
+                if (value != null || (targetType != null && targetType.isPrimitive())) {
                     value = ELSupport.coerceToType(value, targetType);
                 }
             }