diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryTableScanExec.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryTableScanExec.scala
index 846ec03e46a1..139da1c519da 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryTableScanExec.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryTableScanExec.scala
@@ -102,8 +102,8 @@ case class InMemoryTableScanExec(
     case IsNull(a: Attribute) => statsFor(a).nullCount > 0
     case IsNotNull(a: Attribute) => statsFor(a).count - statsFor(a).nullCount > 0
 
-    case In(_: AttributeReference, list: Seq[Expression]) if list.isEmpty => Literal.FalseLiteral
-    case In(a: AttributeReference, list: Seq[Expression]) if list.forall(_.isInstanceOf[Literal]) =>
+    case In(a: AttributeReference, list: Seq[Expression])
+      if list.forall(_.isInstanceOf[Literal]) && list.nonEmpty =>
       list.map(l => statsFor(a).lowerBound <= l.asInstanceOf[Literal] &&
         l.asInstanceOf[Literal] <= statsFor(a).upperBound).reduce(_ || _)
   }
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryColumnarQuerySuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryColumnarQuerySuite.scala
index 75d17bc79477..2f249c850a08 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryColumnarQuerySuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/columnar/InMemoryColumnarQuerySuite.scala
@@ -21,8 +21,9 @@ import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
 import java.sql.{Date, Timestamp}
 
 import org.apache.spark.sql.{DataFrame, QueryTest, Row}
-import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.AttributeSet
+import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.expressions.{AttributeReference, AttributeSet, In}
 import org.apache.spark.sql.catalyst.plans.physical.HashPartitioning
+import org.apache.spark.sql.execution.LocalTableScanExec
 import org.apache.spark.sql.functions._
 import org.apache.spark.sql.internal.SQLConf
 import org.apache.spark.sql.test.SharedSQLContext
@@ -444,4 +445,13 @@ class InMemoryColumnarQuerySuite extends QueryTest with SharedSQLContext {
     assert(dfNulls.filter($"id".isin(2, 3)).count() == 0)
     dfNulls.unpersist()
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-22249: buildFilter should not throw exception when In contains an empty list") {
+    val attribute = AttributeReference("a", IntegerType)()
+    val testRelation = InMemoryRelation(false, 1, MEMORY_ONLY,
+      LocalTableScanExec(Seq(attribute), Nil), None)
+    val tableScanExec = InMemoryTableScanExec(Seq(attribute),
+      Seq(In(attribute, Nil)), testRelation)
+    assert(tableScanExec.partitionFilters.isEmpty)
+  }
 }