diff --git a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/packages/UserLibrary.java b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/packages/UserLibrary.java
index ee9c0bd031b..29c77e2f228 100644
--- a/arduino-core/src/processing/app/packages/UserLibrary.java
+++ b/arduino-core/src/processing/app/packages/UserLibrary.java
@@ -149,6 +149,10 @@ public static UserLibrary create(UserLibraryFolder libFolderDesc) throws IOExcep
 
     String declaredVersion = properties.get("version").trim();
     Version version = VersionHelper.valueOf(declaredVersion);
+    if (version == null) {
+      System.err.println("Can't parse library version in " + propertiesFile.toString());
+      version = VersionHelper.valueOf("0.0.1"); // version must not be null
+    }
 
     UserLibrary res = new UserLibrary();
     res.installedFolder = libFolder;