diff --git a/lib/controller.ts b/lib/controller.ts
index deb216015..bd0066f61 100644
--- a/lib/controller.ts
+++ b/lib/controller.ts
@@ -465,7 +465,10 @@ export class Controller {
             let message: string | undefined;
 
             // Special cases
-            if (key === "color" && utils.objectHasProperties(subPayload, ["r", "g", "b"])) {
+            // `objectHasProperties` indexes its argument, so it has to be given an object.
+            // The null check three lines below is too late: `color` is nullable like any
+            // other attribute, and a null one reaches here before that branch runs.
+            if (key === "color" && subPayload != null && utils.objectHasProperties(subPayload, ["r", "g", "b"])) {
                 subPayload = [subPayload.r, subPayload.g, subPayload.b];
             }
 
diff --git a/test/controller.test.ts b/test/controller.test.ts
index de43d0e24..318784ebe 100644
--- a/test/controller.test.ts
+++ b/test/controller.test.ts
@@ -1061,6 +1061,17 @@ describe("Controller", () => {
         );
     });
 
+    it("Publish entity state attribute output with a null color", async () => {
+        await controller.start();
+        settings.set(["advanced", "output"], "attribute_and_json");
+        mockMQTTPublishAsync.mockClear();
+        const device = getZ2MDevice("bulb");
+        await controller.publishEntityState(device, {state: "ON", color: null});
+        await flushPromises();
+        expect(mockMQTTPublishAsync).toHaveBeenCalledWith("zigbee2mqtt/bulb/state", "ON", {qos: 0, retain: true});
+        expect(mockMQTTPublishAsync).toHaveBeenCalledWith("zigbee2mqtt/bulb/color", "", {qos: 0, retain: true});
+    });
+
     it("Publish entity state attribute_json output filtered", async () => {
         await controller.start();
         settings.set(["advanced", "output"], "attribute_and_json");