diff --git a/imageio/imageio-bmp/src/main/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/bmp/BMPImageReader.java b/imageio/imageio-bmp/src/main/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/bmp/BMPImageReader.java
index 331348b9..6ff96a19 100755
--- a/imageio/imageio-bmp/src/main/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/bmp/BMPImageReader.java
+++ b/imageio/imageio-bmp/src/main/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/bmp/BMPImageReader.java
@@ -160,13 +160,15 @@ public final class BMPImageReader extends ImageReaderBase {
                     }
                 }
 
-                // There might be more entries in the color map, but we ignore these for reading
-                int mapSize = Math.min(colors.length, 1 << header.getBitCount());
+                if (colors.length > 0) {
+                    // There might be more entries in the color map, but we ignore these for reading
+                    int mapSize = Math.min(colors.length, 1 << header.getBitCount());
 
-                // Compute bits for > 8 bits (used only for meta data)
-                int bits = header.getBitCount() <= 8 ? header.getBitCount() : mapSize <= 256 ? 8 : 16;
+                    // Compute bits for > 8 bits (used only for meta data)
+                    int bits = header.getBitCount() <= 8 ? header.getBitCount() : mapSize <= 256 ? 8 : 16;
 
-                colorMap = new IndexColorModel(bits, mapSize, colors, 0, false, -1, DataBuffer.TYPE_BYTE);
+                    colorMap = new IndexColorModel(bits, mapSize, colors, 0, false, -1, DataBuffer.TYPE_BYTE);
+                }
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/imageio/imageio-bmp/src/test/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/bmp/BMPImageReaderTest.java b/imageio/imageio-bmp/src/test/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/bmp/BMPImageReaderTest.java
index c426d7ee..76a495b3 100755
--- a/imageio/imageio-bmp/src/test/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/bmp/BMPImageReaderTest.java
+++ b/imageio/imageio-bmp/src/test/java/com/twelvemonkeys/imageio/plugins/bmp/BMPImageReaderTest.java
@@ -108,7 +108,8 @@ public class BMPImageReaderTest extends ImageReaderAbstractTest<BMPImageReader>
                 new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/bmp/blauesglas_24.bmp"), new Dimension(301, 331)),
                 new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/bmp/blauesglas_32.bmp"), new Dimension(301, 331)),
                 new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/bmp/blauesglas_32_bitmask888.bmp"), new Dimension(301, 331)),
-                new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/bmp/blauesglas_32_bitmask888_reversed.bmp"), new Dimension(301, 331))
+                new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/bmp/blauesglas_32_bitmask888_reversed.bmp"), new Dimension(301, 331)),
+                new TestData(getClassLoaderResource("/bmp/24bitpalette.bmp"), new Dimension(320, 200))
         );
     }
 
diff --git a/imageio/imageio-bmp/src/test/resources/bmp/24bitpalette.bmp b/imageio/imageio-bmp/src/test/resources/bmp/24bitpalette.bmp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..aacdea1a
Binary files /dev/null and b/imageio/imageio-bmp/src/test/resources/bmp/24bitpalette.bmp differ