diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/SerializerAwareTrait.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/SerializerAwareTrait.php
index e4ba0ecb9c22..495e5889ce81 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/SerializerAwareTrait.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/SerializerAwareTrait.php
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
  */
 trait SerializerAwareTrait
 {
-    protected SerializerInterface $serializer;
+    protected ?SerializerInterface $serializer = null;
 
     public function setSerializer(SerializerInterface $serializer): void
     {
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Normalizer/ObjectNormalizerTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Normalizer/ObjectNormalizerTest.php
index 8285dd88ee22..740accd8feda 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Normalizer/ObjectNormalizerTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Normalizer/ObjectNormalizerTest.php
@@ -885,6 +885,16 @@ public function testSamePropertyAsMethodWithMethodSerializedName()
 
         $this->assertSame($expected, $this->normalizer->normalize($object));
     }
+
+    public function testNormalizeWithoutSerializerSet()
+    {
+        $normalizer = new ObjectNormalizer(new ClassMetadataFactory(new AttributeLoader()));
+
+        $this->expectException(LogicException::class);
+        $this->expectExceptionMessage('Cannot normalize attribute "foo" because the injected serializer is not a normalizer.');
+
+        $normalizer->normalize(new ObjectConstructorDummy([], [], []));
+    }
 }
 
 class ProxyObjectDummy extends ObjectDummy