diff --git a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/utils/Utils.java b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/utils/Utils.java
index af71e3ecd33c5..7d84167cf24fc 100755
--- a/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/utils/Utils.java
+++ b/clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/common/utils/Utils.java
@@ -998,6 +998,14 @@ public interface UncheckedCloseable extends AutoCloseable {
 
     /**
      * Closes {@code closeable} and if an exception is thrown, it is logged at the WARN level.
+     * <b>Be cautious when passing method references as an argument.</b> For example:
+     * <p>
+     * {@code closeQuietly(task::stop, "source task");}
+     * <p>
+     * Although this method gracefully handles null {@link AutoCloseable} objects, attempts to take a method
+     * reference from a null object will result in a {@link NullPointerException}. In the example code above,
+     * it would be the caller's responsibility to ensure that {@code task} was non-null before attempting to
+     * use a method reference from it.
      */
     public static void closeQuietly(AutoCloseable closeable, String name) {
         if (closeable != null) {
@@ -1009,6 +1017,17 @@ public static void closeQuietly(AutoCloseable closeable, String name) {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+    * Closes {@code closeable} and if an exception is thrown, it is registered to the firstException parameter.
+    * <b>Be cautious when passing method references as an argument.</b> For example:
+    * <p>
+    * {@code closeQuietly(task::stop, "source task");}
+    * <p>
+    * Although this method gracefully handles null {@link AutoCloseable} objects, attempts to take a method
+    * reference from a null object will result in a {@link NullPointerException}. In the example code above,
+    * it would be the caller's responsibility to ensure that {@code task} was non-null before attempting to
+    * use a method reference from it.
+    */
     public static void closeQuietly(AutoCloseable closeable, String name, AtomicReference<Throwable> firstException) {
         if (closeable != null) {
             try {
diff --git a/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/AbstractWorkerSourceTask.java b/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/AbstractWorkerSourceTask.java
index 837891071a49a..72817a02f0f66 100644
--- a/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/AbstractWorkerSourceTask.java
+++ b/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/AbstractWorkerSourceTask.java
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@
 import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
@@ -233,7 +234,7 @@ protected AbstractWorkerSourceTask(ConnectorTaskId id,
         this.admin = admin;
         this.offsetReader = offsetReader;
         this.offsetWriter = offsetWriter;
-        this.offsetStore = offsetStore;
+        this.offsetStore = Objects.requireNonNull(offsetStore, "offset store cannot be null for source tasks");
         this.closeExecutor = closeExecutor;
         this.sourceTaskContext = sourceTaskContext;