diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/clusterstate/utils/status.go b/cluster-autoscaler/clusterstate/utils/status.go
index 3636abf721..c1917b44b1 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/clusterstate/utils/status.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/clusterstate/utils/status.go
@@ -91,6 +91,9 @@ func WriteStatusConfigMap(kubeClient kube_client.Interface, namespace string, ms
 	maps := kubeClient.CoreV1().ConfigMaps(namespace)
 	configMap, getStatusError = maps.Get(context.TODO(), statusConfigMapName, metav1.GetOptions{})
 	if getStatusError == nil {
+		if configMap.Data == nil {
+			configMap.Data = make(map[string]string)
+		}
 		configMap.Data["status"] = statusMsg
 		if configMap.ObjectMeta.Annotations == nil {
 			configMap.ObjectMeta.Annotations = make(map[string]string)
diff --git a/cluster-autoscaler/clusterstate/utils/status_test.go b/cluster-autoscaler/clusterstate/utils/status_test.go
index a0dc5dab82..ff96a2f0f0 100644
--- a/cluster-autoscaler/clusterstate/utils/status_test.go
+++ b/cluster-autoscaler/clusterstate/utils/status_test.go
@@ -95,6 +95,17 @@ func TestWriteStatusConfigMapExisting(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.True(t, ti.getCalled)
 	assert.True(t, ti.updateCalled)
 	assert.False(t, ti.createCalled)
+
+	// to test the case where configmap is empty
+	ti.configMap.Data = nil
+	result, err = WriteStatusConfigMap(ti.client, ti.namespace, "TEST_MSG", nil, "my-cool-configmap")
+	assert.Equal(t, ti.configMap, result)
+	assert.Contains(t, result.Data["status"], "TEST_MSG")
+	assert.Contains(t, result.ObjectMeta.Annotations, ConfigMapLastUpdatedKey)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+	assert.True(t, ti.getCalled)
+	assert.True(t, ti.updateCalled)
+	assert.False(t, ti.createCalled)
 }
 
 func TestWriteStatusConfigMapCreate(t *testing.T) {