diff --git a/plugins/hypervisors/kvm/src/com/cloud/hypervisor/kvm/resource/wrapper/LibvirtBackupSnapshotCommandWrapper.java b/plugins/hypervisors/kvm/src/com/cloud/hypervisor/kvm/resource/wrapper/LibvirtBackupSnapshotCommandWrapper.java
index 25da0468dea..ad33945498a 100644
--- a/plugins/hypervisors/kvm/src/com/cloud/hypervisor/kvm/resource/wrapper/LibvirtBackupSnapshotCommandWrapper.java
+++ b/plugins/hypervisors/kvm/src/com/cloud/hypervisor/kvm/resource/wrapper/LibvirtBackupSnapshotCommandWrapper.java
@@ -171,7 +171,11 @@ public final class LibvirtBackupSnapshotCommandWrapper extends CommandWrapper<Ba
                 final String snapshot = snapshotXML.format(args);
                 s_logger.debug(snapshot);
                 final DomainSnapshot snap = vm.snapshotLookupByName(snapshotName);
-                snap.delete(0);
+                if (snap != null) {
+                    snap.delete(0);
+                } else {
+                    throw new CloudRuntimeException("Unable to find vm snapshot with name -" + snapshotName);
+                }
 
                 /*
                  * libvirt on RHEL6 doesn't handle resume event emitted from
@@ -203,4 +207,4 @@ public final class LibvirtBackupSnapshotCommandWrapper extends CommandWrapper<Ba
         }
         return new BackupSnapshotAnswer(command, true, null, snapshotRelPath + File.separator + snapshotName, true);
     }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}