diff --git a/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/pom.xml b/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/pom.xml
index d4964e87a..fb6fafe01 100644
--- a/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/pom.xml
+++ b/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/pom.xml
@@ -23,6 +23,11 @@
 			<artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
 			<version>${commons-io-version}</version>
 		</dependency>
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>commons-codec</groupId>
+			<artifactId>commons-codec</artifactId>
+			<version>${commons-codec-version}</version>
+		</dependency>
 
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>com.sun</groupId>
diff --git a/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/AbstractSpringBootApp.java b/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/AbstractSpringBootApp.java
index c80cd19ec..7e83606c5 100644
--- a/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/AbstractSpringBootApp.java
+++ b/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/AbstractSpringBootApp.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import javax.management.remote.JMXConnector;
 import javax.management.remote.JMXConnectorFactory;
 import javax.management.remote.JMXServiceURL;
 
+import org.apache.commons.codec.digest.DigestUtils;
 import org.json.JSONArray;
 import org.json.JSONObject;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -207,28 +208,29 @@ public abstract class AbstractSpringBootApp implements SpringBootApp {
 			String domain = getDomainForActuator();
 			Object json = getBeansFromActuator(domain);
 
-			MessageDigest md = MessageDigest.getInstance("MD5");
-			String md5 = new String(md.digest(json.toString().getBytes("UTF-8")));
+			if (json != null) {
+				String md5 = DigestUtils.md5Hex(json.toString());
 
-			synchronized(this) {
-				if (cachedBeansModel == null || !md5.equals(cachedBeansModelMD5)) {
+				synchronized(this) {
+					if (cachedBeansModel == null || !md5.equals(cachedBeansModelMD5)) {
 
-					cachedBeansModel = LiveBeansModel.parse(gson.toJson(json));
-					cachedBeansModelMD5 = md5;
+						cachedBeansModel = LiveBeansModel.parse(gson.toJson(json));
+						cachedBeansModelMD5 = md5;
 
-					logger.debug("Got {} beans for {}", cachedBeansModel.getBeanNames().size(), this);
-				}
-				else {
-					logger.debug("Got {} beans for {} - from cache", cachedBeansModel.getBeanNames().size(), this);
+						logger.debug("Got {} beans for {}", cachedBeansModel.getBeanNames().size(), this);
+					}
+					else {
+						logger.debug("Got {} beans for {} - from cache", cachedBeansModel.getBeanNames().size(), this);
+					}
 				}
+
+				return cachedBeansModel;
 			}
-
-			return cachedBeansModel;
-
 		} catch (Exception e) {
 			logger.error("Error parsing beans", e);
-			return LiveBeansModel.builder().build();
 		}
+
+		return LiveBeansModel.builder().build();
 	}
 
 	private Object getBeansFromActuator(String domain) throws Exception {
diff --git a/headless-services/commons/pom.xml b/headless-services/commons/pom.xml
index fb4c539a4..595acd128 100644
--- a/headless-services/commons/pom.xml
+++ b/headless-services/commons/pom.xml
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@
  		<reactor-version>3.1.5.RELEASE</reactor-version>
 		<reactor-netty>0.7.5.RELEASE</reactor-netty>
 		<commons-io-version>2.4</commons-io-version>
+		<commons-codec-version>1.11</commons-codec-version>
 	</properties>
 
 	<build>