"panic: runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference" when running "jfrog rt npmp"

[SomaSharath]

Describe the bug
When running jfrog rt npmp --build-name={} --build-number={} , I get the following (similar to #1297 )

[Info] Running npm Publish
panic: runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference
[signal SIGSEGV: segmentation violation code=0x1 addr=0x8 pc=0xb9f71e]

goroutine 1 [running]:
github.com/jfrog/jfrog-cli-core/v2/artifactory/commands/npm.(*NpmPublishCommand).preparePrerequisites(0xc00023d600)
	/root/go/pkg/mod/github.com/jfrog/jfrog-cli-core/[email protected]/artifactory/commands/npm/publish.go:192 +0xfe
github.com/jfrog/jfrog-cli-core/v2/artifactory/commands/npm.(*NpmPublishCommand).Run(0xc00023d600)
	/root/go/pkg/mod/github.com/jfrog/jfrog-cli-core/[email protected]/artifactory/commands/npm/publish.go:138 +0x77
github.com/jfrog/jfrog-cli-core/v2/common/commands.Exec({0xf192e0, 0xc00023d600})
	/root/go/pkg/mod/github.com/jfrog/jfrog-cli-core/[email protected]/common/commands/command.go:26 +0xad
github.com/jfrog/jfrog-cli/artifactory.npmPublishCmd(0xc0000d2f20)
	/var/jenkins_home/workspace/eco-system/release/jfrog-cli-release/temp/jfrog-cli/artifactory/cli.go:1197 +0x1cf
github.com/jfrog/jfrog-cli/artifactory.GetCommands.func33(0x1)
	/var/jenkins_home/workspace/eco-system/release/jfrog-cli-release/temp/jfrog-cli/artifactory/cli.go:537 +0x19
github.com/codegangsta/cli.HandleAction({0xc8cdc0, 0xe06e28}, 0xb)
	/root/go/pkg/mod/github.com/codegangsta/[email protected]/app.go:490 +0x5a
github.com/codegangsta/cli.Command.Run({{0xdbcd6a, 0xb}, {0x0, 0x0}, {0xc00023a770, 0x1, 0x1}, {0x0, 0x0}, {0x0, ...}, ...}, ...)
	/root/go/pkg/mod/github.com/codegangsta/[email protected]/command.go:210 +0x8f8
github.com/codegangsta/cli.(*App).RunAsSubcommand(0xc000222680, 0xc0000d2c60)
	/root/go/pkg/mod/github.com/codegangsta/[email protected]/app.go:379 +0x985
github.com/codegangsta/cli.Command.startApp({{0xdb6baa, 0x2}, {0x0, 0x0}, {0x0, 0x0, 0x0}, {0x0, 0x0}, {0x0, ...}, ...}, ...)
	/root/go/pkg/mod/github.com/codegangsta/[email protected]/command.go:298 +0x6bb
github.com/codegangsta/cli.Command.Run({{0xdb6baa, 0x2}, {0x0, 0x0}, {0x0, 0x0, 0x0}, {0x0, 0x0}, {0x0, ...}, ...}, ...)
	/root/go/pkg/mod/github.com/codegangsta/[email protected]/command.go:98 +0x418
github.com/codegangsta/cli.(*App).Run(0xc0002224e0, {0xc0000300a0, 0x5, 0x5})
	/root/go/pkg/mod/github.com/codegangsta/[email protected]/app.go:255 +0x6ac
main.execMain()

To Reproduce
After I've upgraded the jFrog cli version to 2.6.1 the command fails with the above error, works fine with v2.5.1 version of cli.

Expected behavior
Publishing npm package should not throw an error.

Screenshots
If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

Versions

• JFrog CLI version: 2.6.1
• JFrog CLI operating system: Alpine Linux v3.11
• Artifactory Version: 7.24.4

Additional context
As a temporary fix, I have rolled back the cli version to 2.5.1 and it works as expected.

[RobiNino]

Hi @SomaSharath ,
Thank you for reporting this issue.
We just released version 2.6.2 that includes a fix.
We'd appreciate your feedback for it.

[sstephant]

Hi. The related issue #1297 mentionned is not fixed by version 2.6.2

[rsi-mrobinson]

Seeing this issue in 2.71.5 looks like it's been open for 3 years, so I'm assuming theres no hope of a fix from jfrog