diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/cli/CLICommand.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/cli/CLICommand.java
index 2e9f5bec743e2c95ce47cb799161055946ca9441..c5a672ff40bb73074d65b7451f873b9e82c31e16 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/cli/CLICommand.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/cli/CLICommand.java
@@ -365,6 +365,11 @@ public abstract class CLICommand implements ExtensionPoint, Cloneable {
     }
 
     protected Charset getClientCharset() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+        if (channel==null)
+            // for SSH, assume the platform default encoding
+            // this is in-line with the standard SSH behavior
+            return Charset.defaultCharset();
+
         String charsetName = checkChannel().call(new GetCharset());
         try {
             return Charset.forName(charsetName);