diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 01918fe861..6d80b2972e 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@
  * Rename DisableFlag class to EnableFlag on guardrails (CASSANDRA-17544)
 
 4.1.2
+ * Fix NPE when loading snapshots and data directory is one directory from root (CASSANDRA-18359)
  * Do not submit hints when hinted_handoff_enabled=false (CASSANDRA-18304)
  * Fix COPY ... TO STDOUT behavior in cqlsh (CASSANDRA-18353)
  * Remove six and Py2SaferScanner merge cruft (CASSANDRA-18354)
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/snapshot/SnapshotLoader.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/snapshot/SnapshotLoader.java
index 34beffda97..d31df361e5 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/snapshot/SnapshotLoader.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/snapshot/SnapshotLoader.java
@@ -107,6 +107,10 @@ public class SnapshotLoader
         @Override
         public FileVisitResult preVisitDirectory(Path subdir, BasicFileAttributes attrs)
         {
+            // see CASSANDRA-18359
+            if (subdir.getParent() == null || subdir.getParent().getFileName() == null)
+                return FileVisitResult.CONTINUE;
+
             if (subdir.getParent().getFileName().toString().equals(SNAPSHOT_SUBDIR))
             {
                 logger.trace("Processing directory " + subdir);