diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 90c502440..25ba2f45a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ Inspired from [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/)
 ### Features
 ### Enhancements
 ### Bug Fixes
+- Fixed user permission validation to correctly handle null users and backend roles.
 ### Infrastructure
 ### Documentation
 ### Maintenance
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/util/ParseUtils.java b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/util/ParseUtils.java
index 0e417ef94..546eafce0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/util/ParseUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/util/ParseUtils.java
@@ -366,6 +366,16 @@ public static void resolveUserAndExecute(
         }
     }
 
+    // helper method to check if varargs User... is null
+    private static boolean hasUsersAndRoles(User requestedUser, User resourceUser) {
+
+        return requestedUser != null
+            && resourceUser != null
+            && resourceUser.getBackendRoles() != null
+            && requestedUser.getBackendRoles() != null;
+
+    }
+
     /**
      * Check if requested user has backend role required to access the resource
      * @param requestedUser the user to execute the request
@@ -374,10 +384,11 @@ public static void resolveUserAndExecute(
      * @return boolean if the requested user has backend role required to access the resource
      * @throws Exception exception
      */
+
     private static boolean checkUserPermissions(User requestedUser, User resourceUser, String workflowId) throws Exception {
-        if (resourceUser.getBackendRoles() == null || requestedUser.getBackendRoles() == null) {
-            return false;
-        }
+
+        if (!hasUsersAndRoles(requestedUser, resourceUser)) return false;
+
         // Check if requested user has backend role required to access the resource
         for (String backendRole : requestedUser.getBackendRoles()) {
             if (resourceUser.getBackendRoles().contains(backendRole)) {
@@ -395,6 +406,13 @@ private static boolean checkUserPermissions(User requestedUser, User resourceUse
         return false;
     }
 
+    // method to expose checkUserPermissions for testing
+    static boolean exposeCheckUserPermissions(User requestedUser, User resourceUser, String workflowId) throws Exception {
+
+        return checkUserPermissions(requestedUser, resourceUser, workflowId);
+
+    }
+
     /**
      * Check if filter by backend roles is enabled and validate the requested user
      * @param requestedUser the user to execute the request
@@ -533,8 +551,8 @@ public static void onGetWorkflowResponse(
                 }
                 if (shouldUseResourceAuthz(CommonValue.WORKFLOW_RESOURCE_TYPE)
                     || !filterByEnabled
-                    || checkUserPermissions(requestUser, resourceUser, workflowId)
-                    || isAdmin(requestUser)) {
+                    || isAdmin(requestUser)
+                    || checkUserPermissions(requestUser, resourceUser, workflowId)) {
                     function.run();
                 } else {
                     logger.debug("User: " + requestUser.getName() + " does not have permissions to access workflow: " + workflowId);
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/util/ParseUtilsTests.java b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/util/ParseUtilsTests.java
index 6e63dfb97..5550b6a50 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/util/ParseUtilsTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/opensearch/flowframework/util/ParseUtilsTests.java
@@ -444,4 +444,17 @@ public void testIsAdminBackendRoleIsAllAccess() {
     public void testIsAdminNull() {
         assertFalse(isAdmin(null));
     }
+
+    public void testCheckUserPermissionsWithNullUsers() throws Exception {
+
+        User mockrequestedUser = null;
+        User mockresourceUser = new User();
+        String mockWorkFlowId = "mockWorkFlowId";
+
+        boolean res = ParseUtils.exposeCheckUserPermissions(mockrequestedUser, mockresourceUser, mockWorkFlowId);
+
+        assertFalse(res);
+
+    }
+
 }