diff --git a/jetty-core/jetty-http/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http/HttpURITest.java b/jetty-core/jetty-http/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http/HttpURITest.java
index 4fdf1acd6e5f..56c6b25e45e6 100644
--- a/jetty-core/jetty-http/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http/HttpURITest.java
+++ b/jetty-core/jetty-http/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/http/HttpURITest.java
@@ -497,18 +497,21 @@ public static Stream<Arguments> decodePathTests()
                 {"http://localhost:9000/x\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32", "/x\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32", "/x\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32", EnumSet.noneOf(Violation.class)},
                 {"http://localhost:9000/\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32", "/\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32", "/\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32\uD83C\uDF32", EnumSet.noneOf(Violation.class)},
                 // @checkstyle-enable-check : AvoidEscapedUnicodeCharactersCheck
+
+                // An empty (null) authority
+                {"http://", null, null, null}
             }).map(Arguments::of);
     }
 
     @ParameterizedTest
     @MethodSource("decodePathTests")
-    public void testDecodedPath(String input, String canonicalPath, String decodedPath, EnumSet<Violation> expected)
+    public void testDecodedPath(String input, String expectedCanonicalPath, String expectedDecodedPath, EnumSet<Violation> expected)
     {
         try
         {
             HttpURI uri = HttpURI.from(input);
-            assertThat("Canonical Path", uri.getCanonicalPath(), is(canonicalPath));
-            assertThat("Decoded Path", uri.getDecodedPath(), is(decodedPath));
+            assertThat("Canonical Path", uri.getCanonicalPath(), is(expectedCanonicalPath));
+            assertThat("Decoded Path", uri.getDecodedPath(), is(expectedDecodedPath));
 
             EnumSet<Violation> ambiguous = EnumSet.copyOf(expected);
             ambiguous.retainAll(EnumSet.complementOf(EnumSet.of(Violation.UTF16_ENCODINGS, Violation.BAD_UTF8_ENCODING)));
@@ -523,9 +526,9 @@ public void testDecodedPath(String input, String canonicalPath, String decodedPa
         }
         catch (Exception e)
         {
-            if (decodedPath != null)
+            if (expectedDecodedPath != null)
                 e.printStackTrace();
-            assertThat(decodedPath, nullValue());
+            assertThat(expectedDecodedPath, nullValue());
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/jetty-core/jetty-util/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/URIUtil.java b/jetty-core/jetty-util/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/URIUtil.java
index b0f73abb8dc1..9ac52169db2d 100644
--- a/jetty-core/jetty-util/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/URIUtil.java
+++ b/jetty-core/jetty-util/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/URIUtil.java
@@ -471,11 +471,14 @@ public static StringBuilder encodeString(StringBuilder buf,
     /**
      * Decodes a percent-encoded URI path (assuming UTF-8 characters) and strips path parameters.
      * @param path The URI path to decode
+     * @return the decoded path (or null if input path is null)
      * @see #canonicalPath(String)
      * @see #normalizePath(String)
      */
     public static String decodePath(String path)
     {
+        if (path == null)
+            return null;
         return decodePath(path, 0, path.length());
     }
 
@@ -484,11 +487,14 @@ public static String decodePath(String path)
      * @param path A String holding the URI path to decode
      * @param offset The start of the URI within the path string
      * @param length The length of the URI within the path string
+     * @return the decoded path (or null if input path is null)
      * @see #canonicalPath(String)
      * @see #normalizePath(String)
      */
     public static String decodePath(String path, int offset, int length)
     {
+        if (path == null)
+            return null;
         try
         {
             Utf8StringBuilder builder = null;
diff --git a/jetty-core/jetty-util/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/URIUtilTest.java b/jetty-core/jetty-util/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/URIUtilTest.java
index e482337f0b08..c905070b7417 100644
--- a/jetty-core/jetty-util/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/URIUtilTest.java
+++ b/jetty-core/jetty-util/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/util/URIUtilTest.java
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ public static Stream<Arguments> decodePathSource()
 
             // Test for null character (real world ugly test case)
             Arguments.of("/%00/", "/%00/", "/\u0000/"),
+            Arguments.of(null, null, null),
 
             // Deprecated Microsoft Percent-U encoding
             Arguments.of("abc%u3040", "abc\u3040", "abc\u3040"),
@@ -179,10 +180,10 @@ public void testCanonicalEncodedPath(String encodedPath, String canonicalPath, S
 
     @ParameterizedTest(name = "[{index}] {0}")
     @MethodSource("decodePathSource")
-    public void testDecodePath(String encodedPath, String canonicalPath, String decodedPath)
+    public void testDecodePath(String encodedPath, String expectedCanonicalPath, String expectedDecodedPath)
     {
         String path = URIUtil.decodePath(encodedPath);
-        assertEquals(decodedPath, path);
+        assertEquals(expectedDecodedPath, path);
     }
 
     public static Stream<Arguments> decodeBadPathSource()