Index: trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/gui/bugreport/JosmUpdatePanel.java
===================================================================
--- trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/gui/bugreport/JosmUpdatePanel.java	(revision 17075)
+++ trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/gui/bugreport/JosmUpdatePanel.java	(revision 17076)
@@ -50,12 +50,16 @@
 
     private void readCurrentVersion() {
-        int testedVersion = getTestedVersion();
+        try {
+            int testedVersion = getTestedVersion();
 
-        if (testedVersion < 0) {
-            SwingUtilities.invokeLater(this::displayError);
-        } else if (josmVersion < testedVersion) {
-            SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> displayOutOfDate(testedVersion));
-        } else {
-            SwingUtilities.invokeLater(this::displayUpToDate);
+            if (testedVersion < 0) {
+                SwingUtilities.invokeLater(this::displayError);
+            } else if (josmVersion < testedVersion) {
+                SwingUtilities.invokeLater(() -> displayOutOfDate(testedVersion));
+            } else {
+                SwingUtilities.invokeLater(this::displayUpToDate);
+            }
+        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+            Logging.error(e);
         }
     }
Index: trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/HttpClient.java
===================================================================
--- trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/HttpClient.java	(revision 17075)
+++ trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/tools/HttpClient.java	(revision 17076)
@@ -537,4 +537,7 @@
      */
     public static HttpClient create(URL url, String requestMethod) {
+        if (factory == null) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("HTTP factory has not been set");
+        }
         return factory.create(url, requestMethod)
                 // #18812: specify `Accept=*/*` to prevent Java from adding `Accept=text/html, image/gif, image/jpeg, *; q=.2, */*; q=.2`