diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b630b6a51a38d..da26029d51d0d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 - Fix object field exists query ([#17843](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/17843))
 - Use Bad Request status for InputCoercionEcception ([#18161](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/18161))
 - Null check field names in QueryStringQueryBuilder ([#18194](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/pull/18194))
+- Avoid NPE if on SnapshotInfo if 'shallow' boolean not present ([#18187](https://github.com/opensearch-project/OpenSearch/issues/18187))
 
 ### Security
 
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
index 893ec1002ea09..940942b816536 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/repositories/blobstore/BlobStoreRepository.java
@@ -4568,7 +4568,7 @@ public IndexShardSnapshot loadShardSnapshot(BlobContainer shardContainer, Snapsh
             SnapshotId snapshotId = snapshotInfo.snapshotId();
             if (snapshotInfo.getPinnedTimestamp() != 0) {
                 return () -> IndexShardSnapshotStatus.newDone(0L, 0L, 0, 0, 0, 0, "1");
-            } else if (snapshotInfo.isRemoteStoreIndexShallowCopyEnabled()) {
+            } else if (Boolean.TRUE.equals(snapshotInfo.isRemoteStoreIndexShallowCopyEnabled())) {
                 if (shardContainer.blobExists(REMOTE_STORE_SHARD_SHALLOW_COPY_SNAPSHOT_FORMAT.blobName(snapshotId.getUUID()))) {
                     return REMOTE_STORE_SHARD_SHALLOW_COPY_SNAPSHOT_FORMAT.read(
                         shardContainer,