diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/RangeFieldMapper.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/RangeFieldMapper.java
index 0f0b064e52391..9a00ddebe83ba 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/RangeFieldMapper.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/RangeFieldMapper.java
@@ -357,7 +357,9 @@ protected void parseCreateField(ParseContext context, List<IndexableField> field
         } else {
             XContentParser parser = context.parser();
             final XContentParser.Token start = parser.currentToken();
-            if (start == XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {
+            if (start == XContentParser.Token.VALUE_NULL) {
+                return;
+            } else if (start == XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {
                 RangeFieldType fieldType = fieldType();
                 RangeType rangeType = fieldType.rangeType;
                 String fieldName = null;
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/RangeFieldMapperTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/RangeFieldMapperTests.java
index eea71525c705c..4b705f97a31ba 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/RangeFieldMapperTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/RangeFieldMapperTests.java
@@ -363,6 +363,15 @@ protected void doTestNullValue(String type) throws IOException {
                 + InetAddresses.toAddrString(InetAddresses.forString("ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff"));
         }
         assertThat(storedField.stringValue(), containsString(strVal));
+
+        // test null range
+        doc = mapper.parse(SourceToParse.source("test", "type", "1", XContentFactory.jsonBuilder()
+                .startObject()
+                .nullField("field")
+                .endObject()
+                .bytes(),
+            XContentType.JSON));
+        assertNull(doc.rootDoc().get("field"));
     }
 
     public void testNoBounds() throws Exception {
diff --git a/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/range/10_basic.yml b/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/range/10_basic.yml
index 4bf6e3e2b4a4d..56e2e91b4ade3 100644
--- a/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/range/10_basic.yml
+++ b/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/range/10_basic.yml
@@ -45,6 +45,12 @@ setup:
         id: 3
         body: { "integer_range" : { "gte": 4, "lte": 5 } }
 
+  - do:
+      index:
+        index: test
+        type: doc
+        id: 4
+        body: { "integer_range" : null }
 
   - do:
       indices.refresh: {}
@@ -79,6 +85,12 @@ setup:
 
   - match: { hits.total: 0 }
 
+  - do:
+      search:
+        body: { "query" : { "match_all": {} } }
+
+  - match: { hits.total: 4 }
+
 ---
 "Long range":