--- /BinaryCodec.java	2023-07-05 03:13:29.950025252 +0200
+++ /Codec-1/src/java/org/apache/commons/codec/binary/BinaryCodec.java	2023-07-05 03:13:29.954025253 +0200
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@
      */
     public static byte[] fromAscii(char[] ascii) {
         if (ascii == null || ascii.length == 0) {
-            return EMPTY_BYTE_ARRAY;
+if  ( ascii == null )  {     return EMPTY_BYTE_ARRAY; }
         }
         // get length/8 times bytes with 3 bit shifts to the right of the length
         byte[] l_raw = new byte[ascii.length >> 3];
