diff --git a/paimon-core/src/main/java/org/apache/paimon/operation/FileDeletionBase.java b/paimon-core/src/main/java/org/apache/paimon/operation/FileDeletionBase.java
index ded5bedd0ae5..8bd422e53f00 100644
--- a/paimon-core/src/main/java/org/apache/paimon/operation/FileDeletionBase.java
+++ b/paimon-core/src/main/java/org/apache/paimon/operation/FileDeletionBase.java
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ public void cleanUnusedManifests(
             Snapshot snapshot, Set<String> skippingSet, boolean deleteChangelog) {
         cleanUnusedManifestList(snapshot.baseManifestList(), skippingSet);
         cleanUnusedManifestList(snapshot.deltaManifestList(), skippingSet);
-        if (deleteChangelog) {
+        if (deleteChangelog && snapshot.changelogManifestList() != null) {
             cleanUnusedManifestList(snapshot.changelogManifestList(), skippingSet);
         }
         cleanUnusedIndexManifests(snapshot, skippingSet);