diff -ur log4j.orig/log4j-core/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/log4j/core/config/xml/XmlConfiguration.java log4j/log4j-core/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/log4j/core/config/xml/XmlConfiguration.java
--- log4j.orig/log4j-core/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/log4j/core/config/xml/XmlConfiguration.java	2014-06-15 18:09:41.000000000 -0400
+++ log4j/log4j-core/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/log4j/core/config/xml/XmlConfiguration.java	2014-06-15 18:10:30.000000000 -0400
@@ -241,7 +241,12 @@
             try {
                 final ConfigurationFactory.ConfigurationSource source =
                     new ConfigurationFactory.ConfigurationSource(new FileInputStream(configFile), configFile);
-                return new XmlConfiguration(source);
+                final XmlConfiguration newConfig = new XmlConfiguration(source);
+                if (newConfig.rootElement == null) {
+                    // constructor already reported "Error parsing ..."
+                    return null;
+                }
+                return newConfig;
             } catch (final FileNotFoundException ex) {
                 LOGGER.error("Cannot locate file " + configFile, ex);
             }