diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 37105f3a1e..91cac4f265 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 Merged from 1.2:
  * Fix availability validation for LOCAL_ONE CL (CASSANDRA-7319)
  * Use LOCAL_ONE for non-superuser auth queries (CASSANDRA-7328)
+ * Fix handling of empty counter replication mutations (CASSANDRA-7144)
 
 
 2.0.8
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/CounterMutation.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/CounterMutation.java
index fb363c2746..3caeda5f71 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/CounterMutation.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/CounterMutation.java
@@ -104,7 +104,8 @@ public class CounterMutation implements IMutation
             ColumnFamily cf = row.cf;
             replicationMutation.add(cf);
         }
-        return replicationMutation;
+
+        return replicationMutation.isEmpty() ? null : replicationMutation;
     }
 
     private void addReadCommandFromColumnFamily(String keyspaceName, ByteBuffer key, ColumnFamily columnFamily, long timestamp, List<ReadCommand> commands)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageProxy.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageProxy.java
index 2bf8e7fdb3..59834cf539 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageProxy.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageProxy.java
@@ -1077,8 +1077,18 @@ public class StorageProxy implements StorageProxyMBean
                     {
                         public void runMayThrow() throws OverloadedException
                         {
-                            // send mutation to other replica
-                            sendToHintedEndpoints(cm.makeReplicationMutation(), remotes, responseHandler, localDataCenter);
+                            // send the mutation to other replicas, if not null (see CASSANDRA-7144 for details)
+                            RowMutation replicationMutation = cm.makeReplicationMutation();
+                            if (replicationMutation != null)
+                            {
+                                sendToHintedEndpoints(replicationMutation, remotes, responseHandler, localDataCenter);
+                            }
+                            else
+                            {
+                                // simulate the rest of the responses to avoid the timeout
+                                for (int i = 0; i < remotes.size(); i++)
+                                    responseHandler.response(null);
+                            }
                         }
                     });
                 }