diff --git a/pulsar-functions/instance/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/functions/instance/state/BKStateStoreImpl.java b/pulsar-functions/instance/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/functions/instance/state/BKStateStoreImpl.java
index 8714d2cad670e..1ffd8f74a8f6c 100644
--- a/pulsar-functions/instance/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/functions/instance/state/BKStateStoreImpl.java
+++ b/pulsar-functions/instance/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/functions/instance/state/BKStateStoreImpl.java
@@ -172,7 +172,9 @@ public CompletableFuture<ByteBuffer> getAsync(String key) {
                         }
                         return null;
                     } finally {
-                        ReferenceCountUtil.safeRelease(data);
+                        if (data != null) {
+                            ReferenceCountUtil.safeRelease(data);
+                        }
                     }
                 }
         );