NullPointerException on Patch Management tab

Question

I upgraded yesterday to 11.2.3a. When I go to a device and look at the Patches tab, patches are listed with the devices status and I can deploy patches. However, if I go to the main Patch Management home or the Subscription Download on the Configuration home, I get a java.lang.NullPointException. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
Here is the full error details:
16 May 2013 11:55:47 ============== Exception (begin) ===========================
16 May 2013 11:55:47 Exception occured
java.lang.NullPointerException
at java.lang.String.compareTo(String.java:1167)
at java.lang.String.compareTo(String.java:92)
at java.util.Arrays.mergeSort(Arrays.java:1144)
at java.util.Arrays.mergeSort(Arrays.java:1155)
at java.util.Arrays.mergeSort(Arrays.java:1155)
at java.util.Arrays.sort(Arrays.java:1079)
at java.util.Collections.sort(Collections.java:117)
at com.patchlink.sapphire.web.pages.vulnerability.Vie wVulnerabilitiesSnapshot.listOfVendors(ViewVulnera bilitiesSnapshot.java:1652)
at com.patchlink.sapphire.web.pages.vulnerability.Vie wVulnerabilitiesSnapshot.setFilterInfoFromSession( ViewVulnerabilitiesSnapshot.java:1389)
at com.patchlink.sapphire.web.pages.vulnerability.Vie wVulnerabilitiesSnapshot.onInit(ViewVulnerabilitie sSnapshot.java:166)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.initRecursive(W ebControl.java:2085)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.addControl(WebC ontrol.java:1495)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.addControl(WebC ontrol.java:1415)
at com.novell.zenworks.fw.web.internal.layout.PluginT emplate.loadContent(PluginTemplate.java:288)
at com.novell.zenworks.fw.web.internal.layout.Snapsho tTemplate.loadContent(SnapshotTemplate.java:84)
at com.novell.zenworks.fw.web.internal.layout.PluginT emplate.onLoad(PluginTemplate.java:130)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.loadRecursive(W ebControl.java:2423)
at com.novell.zenworks.fw.web.internal.layout.Snapsho tTemplate.loadRecursive(SnapshotTemplate.java:446)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.loadRecursive(W ebControl.java:2429)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.loadRecursive(W ebControl.java:2429)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.loadRecursive(W ebControl.java:2429)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.loadRecursive(W ebControl.java:2429)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.loadRecursive(W ebControl.java:2429)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.loadRecursive(W ebControl.java:2429)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.loadRecursive(W ebControl.java:2429)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.loadRecursive(W ebControl.java:2429)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.loadRecursive(W ebControl.java:2429)
at com.novell.web.controls.WebControl.loadRecursive(W ebControl.java:2429)
at com.novell.web.controls.Page.internalProcessReques t(Page.java:712)
at com.novell.web.controls.Page.processRequest(Page.j ava:667)
at com.novell.zenworks.fw.web.internal.layout.Index.p rocessRequest(Index.java:631)
at com.novell.web.internal.controls.PageTag.doEndTag( PageTag.java:86)
at org.apache.jsp.jsp.index_jsp._jspService(index_jsp .java:187)
at org.apache.jasper.runtime.HttpJspBase.service(Http JspBase.java:70)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet .java:717)
at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.servic e(JspServletWrapper.java:377)
at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFil e(JspServlet.java:313)
at org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspSe rvlet.java:260)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet .java:717)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.in ternalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.do Filter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.inv oke(ApplicationDispatcher.java:646)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.pro cessRequest(ApplicationDispatcher.java:436)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.doF orward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:342)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationDispatcher.for ward(ApplicationDispatcher.java:302)
at com.novell.web.NJWCServlet.serviceImpl(NJWCServlet .java:97)
at com.novell.zenworks.fw.web.internal.ZENworksServle t.service(ZENworksServlet.java:84)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet .java:717)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.in ternalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:290)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.do Filter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
at com.patchlink.sapphire.web.pages.vulnerability.ses sion.HibernateSessionFilter.doFilter(HibernateSess ionFilter.java:75)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.in ternalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:235)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.do Filter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:206)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invo ke(StandardWrapperValve.java:233)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invo ke(StandardContextValve.java:191)
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBas e.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:563)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke( StandardHostValve.java:127)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke (ErrorReportValve.java:102)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invok e(StandardEngineValve.java:109)
at com.novell.zenworks.tomcat.ZENRequestValve.invoke( ZENRequestValve.java:1293)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.servic e(CoyoteAdapter.java:298)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(H ttp11Processor.java:857)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11Conn ectionHandler.process(Http11Protocol.java:588)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run( JIoEndpoint.java:489)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
16 May 2013 11:55:47
Exception Info:
16 May 2013 11:55:47 Class....... java.lang.NullPointerException
16 May 2013 11:55:47 Message..... null
16 May 2013 11:55:47 Logged at... Index...............637
16 May 2013 11:55:47 ============== Exception (end) =============================

Answer 1

ZDC shows different missing files on each Primary, but they're all rpm's or about Asset Management, which we don't have active. All servers show the same list of inconsistent files. Could any of these be part of the problem?
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\conf\novell-rm-audit.xml' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 0, actual = 18214
Checksum: expected = 1, actual = a5ad8991
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\esm\ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib. dll' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 201448, actual = 192512
Checksum: expected = d7e66c82, actual = c37d4766
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\esm\Interop.NetFwTypeLib.dll ' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 28672, actual = 28672
Checksum: expected = bf16c605, actual = ca9fc501
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\esm\WscIsvApiLib.dll' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 14192, actual = 11936
Checksum: expected = 18a5f2c9, actual = e423af3d
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\msi\authto kenclientdevel.msi' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 327680, actual = 325632
Checksum: expected = 98957b1d, actual = 607d3917
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\msi\authto kenclientdevel.x86_64.msi' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 327680, actual = 325632
Checksum: expected = 36e23562, actual = f1603309
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\rpm\compat-expat1.rpm' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 59145, actual = 59065
Checksum: expected = f1b54bf6, actual = 5702280b
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\rpm\identi ty-abstraction-0.1.620-24.noarch.rpm' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 6911277, actual = 6911117
Checksum: expected = f4b62ee4, actual = b643f5b2
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\rpm\jakart a-commons-lang.rpm' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 172086, actual = 172006
Checksum: expected = e551cb12, actual = c771b003
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\rpm\jakart a-commons-logging-1.0.4-21.2.noarch.rpm' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 57982, actual = 57902
Checksum: expected = f667074d, actual = b59ee928
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\rpm\jpacka ge-utils-1.6.3-18.4.i586.rpm' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 26637, actual = 26557
Checksum: expected = 4bc488e9, actual = 23516b4c
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\rpm\log4j-1.2.12-15.2.noarch.rpm' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 343490, actual = 343410
Checksum: expected = 9669ef4b, actual = 9f63d9ec
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\rpm\novell-zenworks-jsvc-5.5.20-1.i386.rpm' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 43356, actual = 43196
Checksum: expected = 11725eeb, actual = f41423f5
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\rpm\rhel-5-i386\hwinfo-8.62-0.novell.2.1.rpm' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 784225, actual = 784225
Checksum: expected = cb04ebba, actual = 84dcea1f
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\rpm\xalan-j2-2.6.0-21.2.noarch.rpm' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 1698260, actual = 1698180
Checksum: expected = c4d9ac2f, actual = ac458b5f
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\tools\ZENw orksInfocollect_Linux.zip' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 8072, actual = 8514
Checksum: expected = 103012d2, actual = a692e502
ERROR File 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Novell\ZENworks\install\downloads\tools\ZENw orksInfocollect_Win.zip' is inconsistent!!!
Size: expected = 2172914, actual = 2181678
Checksum: expected = 234b35e5, actual = 582f2228