diff --git a/xml/dom-impl/src/com/intellij/util/xml/impl/DomSemContributor.java b/xml/dom-impl/src/com/intellij/util/xml/impl/DomSemContributor.java
index f5a68aab0ee5..d1145d297dc2 100644
--- a/xml/dom-impl/src/com/intellij/util/xml/impl/DomSemContributor.java
+++ b/xml/dom-impl/src/com/intellij/util/xml/impl/DomSemContributor.java
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ public class DomSemContributor extends SemContributor {
       @Override
       public AttributeChildInvocationHandler fun(final XmlAttribute attribute) {
         final XmlTag tag = PhysicalDomParentStrategy.getParentTag(attribute);
-        final DomInvocationHandler handler = getParentDom(tag);
+        final DomInvocationHandler handler = tag == null ? null : getParentDom(tag);
         if (handler == null) return null;
 
         final String localName = attribute.getLocalName();
diff --git a/xml/dom-impl/src/com/intellij/util/xml/impl/PhysicalDomParentStrategy.java b/xml/dom-impl/src/com/intellij/util/xml/impl/PhysicalDomParentStrategy.java
index 3dba990044c8..63fe67dadeb8 100644
--- a/xml/dom-impl/src/com/intellij/util/xml/impl/PhysicalDomParentStrategy.java
+++ b/xml/dom-impl/src/com/intellij/util/xml/impl/PhysicalDomParentStrategy.java
@@ -47,10 +47,12 @@ public class PhysicalDomParentStrategy implements DomParentStrategy {
     return myDomManager.getDomHandler(parentTag);
   }
 
+  @Nullable
   public static XmlTag getParentTag(final XmlElement xmlElement) {
     return (XmlTag)getParentTagCandidate(xmlElement);
   }
 
+  @Nullable
   public static PsiElement getParentTagCandidate(final XmlElement xmlElement) {
     final PsiElement parent = xmlElement.getParent();
     return parent instanceof XmlEntityRef ? parent.getParent() : parent;