diff --git a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/parser/org/eclipse/cdt/internal/core/dom/parser/cpp/CPPDeferredClassInstance.java b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/parser/org/eclipse/cdt/internal/core/dom/parser/cpp/CPPDeferredClassInstance.java
index 0623100362c..f1a0f2eef25 100644
--- a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/parser/org/eclipse/cdt/internal/core/dom/parser/cpp/CPPDeferredClassInstance.java
+++ b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/parser/org/eclipse/cdt/internal/core/dom/parser/cpp/CPPDeferredClassInstance.java
@@ -239,6 +239,8 @@ public class CPPDeferredClassInstance extends CPPUnknownBinding implements ICPPD
 	public static ICPPDeferredClassInstance unmarshal(IIndexFragment fragment, short firstBytes,
 			ITypeMarshalBuffer buffer) throws CoreException {
 		IBinding template= buffer.unmarshalBinding();
+		if (template == null)
+			return null;
 		int argcount= buffer.getInt();
 		ICPPTemplateArgument[] args = new ICPPTemplateArgument[argcount];
 		for (int i = 0; i < argcount; i++) {