diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/shutdown/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/shutdown/NodeSeenService.java b/x-pack/plugin/shutdown/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/shutdown/NodeSeenService.java
index 3bf3a846a8a27..c3aba27cf5f5f 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/shutdown/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/shutdown/NodeSeenService.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/shutdown/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/shutdown/NodeSeenService.java
@@ -52,6 +52,12 @@ public void clusterChanged(ClusterChangedEvent event) {
         }
 
         NodesShutdownMetadata eventShutdownMetadata = event.state().metadata().custom(NodesShutdownMetadata.TYPE);
+
+        if (eventShutdownMetadata == null) {
+            // Since there's no shutdown metadata at all, we know no shutdowns have ever been registered and we can bail.
+            return;
+        }
+
         final Set<String> nodesNotPreviouslySeen = eventShutdownMetadata.getAllNodeMetadataMap()
             .values()
             .stream()