diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 81a35cd90b..ff417b1b08 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
  * Support conditional updates, tuple type, and the v3 protocol in cqlsh (CASSANDRA-7509)
  * Handle queries on multiple secondary index types (CASSANDRA-7525)
  * Fix cqlsh authentication with v3 native protocol (CASSANDRA-7564)
+ * Fix NPE when unknown prepared statement ID is used (CASSANDRA-7454)
 Merged from 2.0:
  * (Windows) force range-based repair to non-sequential mode (CASSANDRA-7541)
  * Fix range merging when DES scores are zero (CASSANDRA-7535)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/transport/messages/ExecuteMessage.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/transport/messages/ExecuteMessage.java
index d618f43927..78182b2891 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/transport/messages/ExecuteMessage.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/transport/messages/ExecuteMessage.java
@@ -102,12 +102,12 @@ public class ExecuteMessage extends Message.Request
         {
             QueryHandler handler = state.getClientState().getCQLQueryHandler();
             ParsedStatement.Prepared prepared = handler.getPrepared(statementId);
+            if (prepared == null)
+                throw new PreparedQueryNotFoundException(statementId);
+
             options.prepare(prepared.boundNames);
             CQLStatement statement = prepared.statement;
 
-            if (statement == null)
-                throw new PreparedQueryNotFoundException(statementId);
-
             if (options.getPageSize() == 0)
                 throw new ProtocolException("The page size cannot be 0");