diff --git a/.changes/next-release/bugfix-JSON-00a26a06.json b/.changes/next-release/bugfix-JSON-00a26a06.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..25ba1ecf8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/next-release/bugfix-JSON-00a26a06.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+  "type": "bugfix",
+  "category": "JSON",
+  "description": "Fixes issue caused when trying to unmarshall null binary shapes."
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/util.js b/lib/util.js
index 83a4aa0492..8b5c63ccad 100644
--- a/lib/util.js
+++ b/lib/util.js
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@ var util = {
       if (typeof string === 'number') {
         throw util.error(new Error('Cannot base64 encode number ' + string));
       }
+      if (string === null || typeof string === 'undefined') {
+        return string;
+      }
       var buf = (typeof util.Buffer.from === 'function' && util.Buffer.from !== Uint8Array.from) ? util.Buffer.from(string) : new util.Buffer(string);
       return buf.toString('base64');
     },
@@ -109,6 +112,9 @@ var util = {
       if (typeof string === 'number') {
         throw util.error(new Error('Cannot base64 decode number ' + string));
       }
+      if (string === null || typeof string === 'undefined') {
+        return string;
+      }
       return (typeof util.Buffer.from === 'function' && util.Buffer.from !== Uint8Array.from) ? util.Buffer.from(string, 'base64') : new util.Buffer(string, 'base64');
     }
 
diff --git a/test/protocol/json.spec.coffee b/test/protocol/json.spec.coffee
index 6da0138bed..91f5b931d0 100644
--- a/test/protocol/json.spec.coffee
+++ b/test/protocol/json.spec.coffee
@@ -166,3 +166,9 @@ describe 'AWS.Protocol.Json', ->
       extractData ''
       expect(response.error).to.equal(null)
       expect(response.data).to.eql({})
+
+    it 'can handle null binary values', ->
+      extractData '{"i":1, "b": null}'
+      expect(response.error).to.equal(null)
+      expect(response.data.i).to.equal(1)
+      expect(response.data.b).to.equal(null)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/protocol/rest_json.spec.coffee b/test/protocol/rest_json.spec.coffee
index 577dd630eb..78e513418f 100644
--- a/test/protocol/rest_json.spec.coffee
+++ b/test/protocol/rest_json.spec.coffee
@@ -284,3 +284,14 @@ describe 'AWS.Protocol.RestJson', ->
       extractData ''
       expect(response.error).to.equal(null)
       expect(response.data).to.eql({})
+
+    it 'can handle null binary values', ->
+      defop output:
+        type: 'structure'
+        members:
+          bin: type: 'binary'
+          i: type: 'integer'
+      extractData '{"i": 1, "bin": null}'
+      expect(response.error).to.equal(null)
+      expect(response.data.i).to.equal(1)
+      expect(response.data.bin).to.equal(null)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/util.spec.coffee b/test/util.spec.coffee
index 755b735a6e..011499dbb6 100644
--- a/test/util.spec.coffee
+++ b/test/util.spec.coffee
@@ -566,6 +566,12 @@ describe 'AWS.util.base64', ->
       catch e
         err = e
       expect(err.message).to.equal('Cannot base64 encode number 3.14')
+    
+    it 'does not encode null', ->
+      expect(base64.encode(null)).to.eql(null)
+    
+    it 'does not encode undefined', ->
+      expect(base64.encode(undefined)).to.eql(undefined)
 
   describe 'decode', ->
     it 'decodes the given string', ->
@@ -584,6 +590,12 @@ describe 'AWS.util.base64', ->
         err = e
       expect(err.message).to.equal('Cannot base64 decode number 3.14')
 
+    it 'does not decode null', ->
+      expect(base64.decode(null)).to.eql(null)
+    
+    it 'does not decode undefined', ->
+      expect(base64.decode(undefined)).to.eql(undefined)
+
 describe 'AWS.util.hoistPayloadMember', ->
   hoist = AWS.util.hoistPayloadMember