diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/reactive/JdkClientHttpResponse.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/reactive/JdkClientHttpResponse.java
index 51969c96165..310577de2e8 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/reactive/JdkClientHttpResponse.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/http/client/reactive/JdkClientHttpResponse.java
@@ -67,7 +67,12 @@ class JdkClientHttpResponse extends AbstractClientHttpResponse {
 	private static Flux<DataBuffer> adaptBody(
 			HttpResponse<Flow.Publisher<List<ByteBuffer>>> response, DataBufferFactory bufferFactory) {
 
-		return JdkFlowAdapter.flowPublisherToFlux(response.body())
+		Flow.Publisher<List<ByteBuffer>> body = response.body();
+		if (body == null) {
+			return Flux.empty();
+		}
+
+		return JdkFlowAdapter.flowPublisherToFlux(body)
 				.flatMapIterable(Function.identity())
 				.map(bufferFactory::wrap)
 				.doOnDiscard(DataBuffer.class, DataBufferUtils::release)