diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/Functions.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/Functions.java
index c60e1140e5f732f8859c38a441ec90740bae750f..bbe1de2ddfda0c53271ce967dc99b05fce617c03 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/Functions.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/Functions.java
@@ -1828,7 +1828,9 @@ public class Functions {
      * @since 1.517
      */
     public static String breakableString(final String plain) {
-
+        if (plain == null) {
+            return null;
+        }
         return plain.replaceAll("([\\p{Punct}&&[^;]]+\\w)", "<wbr>$1")
                 .replaceAll("([^\\p{Punct}\\s-]{20})(?=[^\\p{Punct}\\s-]{10})", "$1<wbr>")
         ;
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/hudson/FunctionsTest.java b/core/src/test/java/hudson/FunctionsTest.java
index f0e5213900261f0bbb48326ed4dc7c33ba5b5bbe..7bad097807f9adb557c7118efb44495a370d565c 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/hudson/FunctionsTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/hudson/FunctionsTest.java
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 import java.util.logging.LogRecord;
 import jenkins.model.Jenkins;
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 import org.junit.Ignore;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
@@ -322,6 +322,7 @@ public class FunctionsTest {
         assertBrokenAs("&lt;&lt;a&lt;bc&lt;def&lt;ghi&lt;", "", "&lt;", "&lt;a", "&lt;bc", "&lt;def", "&lt;ghi", "&lt;");
         assertBrokenAs("H,e.l/l:o=w_o+|d", "H", ",e", ".l", "/l", ":o", "=w", "_o", "+|d");
         assertBrokenAs("a¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷ", "a¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷ", "a¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷa¶‱ﻷ");
+        assertNull(Functions.breakableString(null));
     }
 
     private void assertBrokenAs(String plain, String... chunks) {