diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/physical/subquery_planning.go b/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/physical/subquery_planning.go
index 2f31f400138..4abcb3c4347 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/physical/subquery_planning.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/physical/subquery_planning.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/sqlparser"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vterrors"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vtgate/engine"
+	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vtgate/evalengine"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/abstract"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/plancontext"
 
@@ -100,6 +101,9 @@ func mergeSubQueryOp(ctx *plancontext.PlanningContext, outer *Route, inner *Rout
 	}
 	outer.SysTableTableSchema = append(outer.SysTableTableSchema, inner.SysTableTableSchema...)
 	for k, v := range inner.SysTableTableName {
+		if outer.SysTableTableName == nil {
+			outer.SysTableTableName = map[string]evalengine.Expr{}
+		}
 		outer.SysTableTableName[k] = v
 	}
 
diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/route.go b/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/route.go
index 2d74934b062..e54da457ba6 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/route.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/route.go
@@ -380,6 +380,9 @@ func (rb *route) MergeSubquery(pb *primitiveBuilder, inner *route) bool {
 			case engine.DBA, engine.Reference:
 				rb.eroute.SysTableTableSchema = append(rb.eroute.SysTableTableSchema, inner.eroute.SysTableTableSchema...)
 				for k, v := range inner.eroute.SysTableTableName {
+					if rb.eroute.SysTableTableName == nil {
+						rb.eroute.SysTableTableName = map[string]evalengine.Expr{}
+					}
 					rb.eroute.SysTableTableName[k] = v
 				}
 				rb.eroute.Opcode = engine.DBA
diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/testdata/select_cases.txt b/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/testdata/select_cases.txt
index c7d52f6e80b..1de98a26d55 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/testdata/select_cases.txt
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/testdata/select_cases.txt
@@ -2965,3 +2965,40 @@ Gen4 plan same as above
   }
 }
 Gen4 plan same as above
+
+# dual query with exists clause
+"select 1 from dual where exists (select 1 from information_schema.TABLES where information_schema.TABLES.TABLE_NAME = 'proc' and information_schema.TABLES.TABLE_SCHEMA = 'mysql')"
+{
+  "QueryType": "SELECT",
+  "Original": "select 1 from dual where exists (select 1 from information_schema.TABLES where information_schema.TABLES.TABLE_NAME = 'proc' and information_schema.TABLES.TABLE_SCHEMA = 'mysql')",
+  "Instructions": {
+    "OperatorType": "Route",
+    "Variant": "DBA",
+    "Keyspace": {
+      "Name": "main",
+      "Sharded": false
+    },
+    "FieldQuery": "select 1 from dual where 1 != 1",
+    "Query": "select 1 from dual where exists (select 1 from information_schema.`TABLES` where information_schema.`TABLES`.TABLE_NAME = :TABLES_TABLE_NAME and information_schema.`TABLES`.TABLE_SCHEMA = :__vtschemaname)",
+    "SysTableTableName": "[TABLES_TABLE_NAME:VARCHAR(\"proc\")]",
+    "SysTableTableSchema": "[VARCHAR(\"mysql\")]",
+    "Table": "dual"
+  }
+}
+{
+  "QueryType": "SELECT",
+  "Original": "select 1 from dual where exists (select 1 from information_schema.TABLES where information_schema.TABLES.TABLE_NAME = 'proc' and information_schema.TABLES.TABLE_SCHEMA = 'mysql')",
+  "Instructions": {
+    "OperatorType": "Route",
+    "Variant": "DBA",
+    "Keyspace": {
+      "Name": "main",
+      "Sharded": false
+    },
+    "FieldQuery": "select 1 from dual where 1 != 1",
+    "Query": "select 1 from dual where exists (select 1 from information_schema.`TABLES` where `TABLES`.TABLE_NAME = :TABLES_TABLE_NAME and `TABLES`.TABLE_SCHEMA = :__vtschemaname)",
+    "SysTableTableName": "[TABLES_TABLE_NAME:VARCHAR(\"proc\")]",
+    "SysTableTableSchema": "[VARCHAR(\"mysql\")]",
+    "Table": "dual"
+  }
+}