diff --git a/framework/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/framework/ModuleImpl.java b/framework/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/framework/ModuleImpl.java
index 25768e5..bb8b007 100644
--- a/framework/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/framework/ModuleImpl.java
+++ b/framework/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/framework/ModuleImpl.java
@@ -667,7 +667,7 @@
         // We do not call getClassLoader().loadClass() for arrays because
         // it does not correctly handle array types, which is necessary in
         // cases like deserialization using a wrapper class loader.
-        if (name.charAt(0) == '[')
+        if ((name != null) && (name.length() > 0) && (name.charAt(0) == '['))
         {
             return Class.forName(name, false, getClassLoader());
         }
@@ -2345,4 +2345,4 @@
 
         return sb.toString();
     }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}