diff --git a/api/handler/put_test.go b/api/handler/put_test.go
index a96c28ea..889bdef6 100644
--- a/api/handler/put_test.go
+++ b/api/handler/put_test.go
@@ -379,6 +379,21 @@ func TestCreateBucket(t *testing.T) {
 	createBucketAssertS3Error(hc, bktName, box2, s3errors.ErrBucketAlreadyExists)
 }
 
+func TestCreateOldBucketPutVersioning(t *testing.T) {
+	hc := prepareHandlerContext(t)
+	hc.config.aclEnabled = true
+	bktName := "bkt-name"
+
+	info := createBucket(hc, bktName)
+	settings, err := hc.tree.GetSettingsNode(hc.Context(), info.BktInfo)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	settings.OwnerKey = nil
+	err = hc.tree.PutSettingsNode(hc.Context(), info.BktInfo, settings)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	putBucketVersioning(t, hc, bktName, true)
+}
+
 func TestCreateNamespacedBucket(t *testing.T) {
 	hc := prepareHandlerContext(t)
 	bktName := "bkt-name"
diff --git a/pkg/service/tree/tree.go b/pkg/service/tree/tree.go
index 50fc3114..ceacb1e6 100644
--- a/pkg/service/tree/tree.go
+++ b/pkg/service/tree/tree.go
@@ -1397,7 +1397,9 @@ func metaFromSettings(settings *data.BucketSettings) map[string]string {
 	results[versioningKV] = settings.Versioning
 	results[lockConfigurationKV] = encodeLockConfiguration(settings.LockConfiguration)
 	results[cannedACLKV] = settings.CannedACL
-	results[ownerKeyKV] = hex.EncodeToString(settings.OwnerKey.Bytes())
+	if settings.OwnerKey != nil {
+		results[ownerKeyKV] = hex.EncodeToString(settings.OwnerKey.Bytes())
+	}
 
 	return results
 }