diff --git a/src/main/java/io/github/guacsec/trustifyda/providers/CargoProvider.java b/src/main/java/io/github/guacsec/trustifyda/providers/CargoProvider.java
index 52ca76d4..19cfc636 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/github/guacsec/trustifyda/providers/CargoProvider.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/github/guacsec/trustifyda/providers/CargoProvider.java
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ private void handleVirtualWorkspace(
     }
   }
 
-  private void processWorkspaceDependencies(
+  void processWorkspaceDependencies(
       Sbom sbom,
       PackageURL root,
       Map<String, CargoPackage> packageMap,
@@ -216,6 +216,12 @@ private void processWorkspaceDependencies(
       TomlParseResult tomlResult) {
 
     var workspaceDepsTable = tomlResult.getTable("workspace.dependencies");
+    if (workspaceDepsTable == null) {
+      if (debugLoggingIsNeeded()) {
+        log.info("No [workspace.dependencies] section found, skipping workspace dependencies");
+      }
+      return;
+    }
     if (debugLoggingIsNeeded()) {
       log.info("Processing " + workspaceDepsTable.keySet().size() + " workspace dependencies");
     }
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/github/guacsec/trustifyda/providers/CargoProviderCargoParsingTest.java b/src/test/java/io/github/guacsec/trustifyda/providers/CargoProviderCargoParsingTest.java
index 72b36545..1d3c922c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/github/guacsec/trustifyda/providers/CargoProviderCargoParsingTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/github/guacsec/trustifyda/providers/CargoProviderCargoParsingTest.java
@@ -16,19 +16,29 @@
  */
 package io.github.guacsec.trustifyda.providers;
 
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertDoesNotThrow;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNull;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 
+import com.github.packageurl.PackageURL;
+import io.github.guacsec.trustifyda.sbom.Sbom;
+import io.github.guacsec.trustifyda.sbom.SbomFactory;
+import io.github.guacsec.trustifyda.tools.Ecosystem.Type;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir;
+import org.tomlj.Toml;
+import org.tomlj.TomlParseResult;
 
 public class CargoProviderCargoParsingTest {
 
@@ -720,4 +730,40 @@ public void testVirtualRootWithoutVersionUsesDefault(@TempDir Path tempDir) thro
 
     assertTrue(stackSbom.contains("1.0.0"), "SBOM should contain default version: 1.0.0");
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testVirtualWorkspaceWithoutWorkspaceDepsDoesNotThrowNPE(@TempDir Path tempDir)
+      throws Exception {
+    // Create a Cargo.toml with [workspace] members but NO [workspace.dependencies]
+    Path cargoToml = tempDir.resolve("Cargo.toml");
+    String content =
+        """
+        [workspace]
+        members = ["crate-a", "crate-b"]
+
+        [workspace.package]
+        version = "1.0.0"
+        edition = "2021"
+        """;
+    Files.writeString(cargoToml, content);
+
+    TomlParseResult tomlResult = Toml.parse(cargoToml);
+    // Verify precondition: workspace.dependencies table is null
+    assertNull(
+        tomlResult.getTable("workspace.dependencies"),
+        "Precondition: workspace.dependencies table should be null");
+
+    CargoProvider provider = new CargoProvider(cargoToml);
+    Sbom sbom = SbomFactory.newInstance();
+    PackageURL root =
+        new PackageURL(Type.CARGO.getType(), null, "test-workspace", "1.0.0", null, null);
+    sbom.addRoot(root);
+
+    // This should NOT throw NPE when [workspace.dependencies] is absent
+    assertDoesNotThrow(
+        () ->
+            provider.processWorkspaceDependencies(
+                sbom, root, new HashMap<>(), new HashSet<>(), tomlResult),
+        "processWorkspaceDependencies should handle missing [workspace.dependencies] gracefully");
+  }
 }