diff --git a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/MetadataConfig.java b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/MetadataConfig.java
index 5c9550fe8530..723404697095 100644
--- a/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/MetadataConfig.java
+++ b/google-cloud-clients/google-cloud-core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/MetadataConfig.java
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ public static String getProjectId() {
 
   public static String getZone() {
     String zoneId = getAttribute("instance/zone");
-    if (zoneId.contains("/")) {
+    if (zoneId != null && zoneId.contains("/")) {
       return zoneId.substring(zoneId.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
     }
     return zoneId;