diff --git a/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/rowsandcols/semantic/DefaultColumnSelectorFactoryMaker.java b/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/rowsandcols/semantic/DefaultColumnSelectorFactoryMaker.java
index 0a1b33337048..4611280ce89e 100644
--- a/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/rowsandcols/semantic/DefaultColumnSelectorFactoryMaker.java
+++ b/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/rowsandcols/semantic/DefaultColumnSelectorFactoryMaker.java
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ public ColumnCapabilities getColumnCapabilities(String column)
     {
       return withColumnAccessor(column, columnAccessor -> {
         if (columnAccessor == null) {
-          return ColumnCapabilitiesImpl.createDefault();
+          return null;
         } else {
           return new ColumnCapabilitiesImpl()
               .setType(columnAccessor.getType())
diff --git a/processing/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/query/rowsandcols/semantic/CombinedSemanticInterfacesTest.java b/processing/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/query/rowsandcols/semantic/CombinedSemanticInterfacesTest.java
index d69fe0fcad90..b7c91b854e4d 100644
--- a/processing/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/query/rowsandcols/semantic/CombinedSemanticInterfacesTest.java
+++ b/processing/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/query/rowsandcols/semantic/CombinedSemanticInterfacesTest.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
 import java.util.function.Function;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
 
 /**
  * Place where tests can live that are testing the interactions of multiple semantic interfaces
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ public void testColumnSelectorFactoryGetColumnCapabilitiesNonExistentColumn()
     AtomicInteger currRow = new AtomicInteger();
     ColumnSelectorFactory csfm = ColumnSelectorFactoryMaker.fromRAC(rac).make(currRow);
 
-    assertNotNull(csfm.getColumnCapabilities("nonexistent"));
+    assertNull(csfm.getColumnCapabilities("nonexistent"));
   }
 
   /**