diff --git a/newrelic-agent/src/main/java/com/newrelic/agent/attributes/AgentAttributeSender.java b/newrelic-agent/src/main/java/com/newrelic/agent/attributes/AgentAttributeSender.java
index 7a9773e489..cca52466d6 100644
--- a/newrelic-agent/src/main/java/com/newrelic/agent/attributes/AgentAttributeSender.java
+++ b/newrelic-agent/src/main/java/com/newrelic/agent/attributes/AgentAttributeSender.java
@@ -34,7 +34,11 @@ protected Map<String, Object> getAttributeMap() {
     }
 
     public void removeAttribute(String key) {
-        getAttributeMap().remove(key);
+        Map<String, Object> attributeMap = getAttributeMap();
+        if (attributeMap == null) {
+            return;
+        }
+        attributeMap.remove(key);
     }
 
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/newrelic-agent/src/test/java/com/newrelic/api/agent/NewRelicApiImplementationTest.java b/newrelic-agent/src/test/java/com/newrelic/api/agent/NewRelicApiImplementationTest.java
index 2428c0f1ef..a036f1af44 100644
--- a/newrelic-agent/src/test/java/com/newrelic/api/agent/NewRelicApiImplementationTest.java
+++ b/newrelic-agent/src/test/java/com/newrelic/api/agent/NewRelicApiImplementationTest.java
@@ -274,6 +274,21 @@ public void setUserId_withInvalidId_doesNotSetAttribute() {
         Mockito.verify(mockAgentSender, Mockito.times(0)).addAttribute("enduser.id", "123", "setUserId");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void setUserId_withoutActiveTxn_isNoOp() {
+        mockOutServices();
+        AttributeSender mockSender = Mockito.mock(AttributeSender.class);
+        AgentAttributeSender mockAgentSender = new AgentAttributeSender();
+        NewRelicApiImplementation target = new NewRelicApiImplementation(mockSender, mockAgentSender);
+
+        try(MockedStatic<Transaction> mockTxn = Mockito.mockStatic(Transaction.class)) {
+            mockTxn.when(() -> Transaction.getTransaction(false)).thenReturn(null);
+            //These used to throw an NPE when there was no active transaction so the "assertion" is that these method calls execute without an exception
+            target.setUserId(null);
+            target.setUserId("");
+        }
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void setUserName_withValidName_setsNameAttribute() {
         mockOutServices();