diff --git a/runtime/lua/vim/lsp/buf.lua b/runtime/lua/vim/lsp/buf.lua
index 4dfce3923b..2f8c1c02ac 100644
--- a/runtime/lua/vim/lsp/buf.lua
+++ b/runtime/lua/vim/lsp/buf.lua
@@ -809,7 +809,7 @@ function M.references(context, opts)
 
     for client_id, res in pairs(results) do
       local client = assert(lsp.get_client_by_id(client_id))
-      local items = util.locations_to_items(res.result, client.offset_encoding)
+      local items = util.locations_to_items(res.result or {}, client.offset_encoding)
       vim.list_extend(all_items, items)
     end