Jira Issues macro displays java.lang.NullPointerException when included on Welcome Message

Steps to reproduce

1. Go to Confluence Admin >> Global Templates
2. Edit Default Welcome Message, and add a Jira Issues macro listing more than one issue (eg: status = Open) or a markup with:

   {jira:anonymous=true|url=http://jira.atlassian.com/sr/jira.issueviews:searchrequest-xml/temp/SearchRequest.xml?jqlQuery=project+%3D+CONF+AND+%28summary+%7E+jiraissues+OR+description+%7E+jiraissues+OR+comment+%7E+jiraissues%29&tempMax=10|columns=type;key;summary}
   

3. Preview will show the issues correctly.
4. Save
5. Go to the Welcome Page: the macro will not be rendered, instead shows this error:

   java.lang.NullPointerException

6. No error is reported on the logs (Jira or Confluence).

Workaround

1. Create a new page. For example, titled "_Welcome" on a space with spacekey DS.
2. Add the jiraissues macro in that page and save it
3. Edit the Default Welcome Message and add a Include Page macro pointing to "DS:_Welcome"
4. JIRA issues macro now should be rendered fine in the Dashboard Welcome page.

Testing Notes

Follow the Steps to reproduce above, you can add more than 1 JIM markups to the Welcome page, the test will be passed if:

1. No NPEs shown
2. Refresh links work properly (only a JIM table is refreshed at one time)
3. Table sorting works properly