diff --git a/hawkbit-mgmt-resource/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/mgmt/rest/resource/MgmtSoftwareModuleMapper.java b/hawkbit-mgmt-resource/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/mgmt/rest/resource/MgmtSoftwareModuleMapper.java
index adc19df0a..3960fb3c2 100644
--- a/hawkbit-mgmt-resource/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/mgmt/rest/resource/MgmtSoftwareModuleMapper.java
+++ b/hawkbit-mgmt-resource/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/mgmt/rest/resource/MgmtSoftwareModuleMapper.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.eclipse.hawkbit.mgmt.rest.api.MgmtSoftwareModuleRestApi;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.mgmt.rest.api.MgmtSoftwareModuleTypeRestApi;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.EntityFactory;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.SoftwareManagement;
+import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.exception.ConstraintViolationException;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.exception.EntityNotFoundException;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.model.Artifact;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.model.LocalArtifact;
@@ -43,6 +44,9 @@ public final class MgmtSoftwareModuleMapper {
 
     private static SoftwareModuleType getSoftwareModuleTypeFromKeyString(final String type,
             final SoftwareManagement softwareManagement) {
+        if (type == null) {
+            throw new ConstraintViolationException("type cannot be null");
+        }
 
         final SoftwareModuleType smType = softwareManagement.findSoftwareModuleTypeByKey(type.trim());
 
diff --git a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-api/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/exception/ConstraintViolationException.java b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-api/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/exception/ConstraintViolationException.java
index f7a7660cf..021d91526 100644
--- a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-api/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/exception/ConstraintViolationException.java
+++ b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-api/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/exception/ConstraintViolationException.java
@@ -31,7 +31,18 @@ public class ConstraintViolationException extends AbstractServerRtException {
      *            thrown
      */
     public ConstraintViolationException(final javax.validation.ConstraintViolationException ex) {
-        super(getExceptionMessage(ex), SpServerError.SP_REPO_CONSTRAINT_VIOLATION);
+        this(getExceptionMessage(ex));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new {@link ConstraintViolationException} with the error code
+     * {@link SpServerError#SP_REPO_CONSTRAINT_VIOLATION}.
+     * 
+     * @param msgText
+     *            the message text for this exception
+     */
+    public ConstraintViolationException(final String msgText) {
+        super(msgText, SpServerError.SP_REPO_CONSTRAINT_VIOLATION);
     }
 
     /**