diff --git a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/core/ErrorParserManager.java b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/core/ErrorParserManager.java
index 54e062665cb..735d8ce086a 100644
--- a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/core/ErrorParserManager.java
+++ b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/src/org/eclipse/cdt/core/ErrorParserManager.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
  *     Andrew Gvozdev (Quoin Inc)
  *     Dmitry Kozlov (CodeSourcery) - Build error highlighting and navigation
  *     Alex Ruiz (Google)
+ *     Serge Beauchamp (Freescale Semiconductor) - Bug 417926
  *******************************************************************************/
 package org.eclipse.cdt.core;
 
@@ -574,6 +575,8 @@ outer:
 	 * @param externalPath - external path pointing to a file outside the workspace.
 	 */
 	public void generateExternalMarker(IResource file, int lineNumber, String desc, int severity, String varName, IPath externalPath) {
+		if (file == null)
+			file = fProject;
 		ProblemMarkerInfo problemMarkerInfo = new ProblemMarkerInfo(file, lineNumber, desc, severity, varName, externalPath);
 		this.addProblemMarker(problemMarkerInfo);
 	}