diff --git a/internal/grpc/services/storageprovider/storageprovider.go b/internal/grpc/services/storageprovider/storageprovider.go
index 2c6253198b..ab4e19e2a9 100644
--- a/internal/grpc/services/storageprovider/storageprovider.go
+++ b/internal/grpc/services/storageprovider/storageprovider.go
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import (
 
 	rpc "github.com/cs3org/go-cs3apis/cs3/rpc/v1beta1"
 	provider "github.com/cs3org/go-cs3apis/cs3/storage/provider/v1beta1"
+	typesv1beta1 "github.com/cs3org/go-cs3apis/cs3/types/v1beta1"
 	"github.com/cs3org/reva/pkg/appctx"
 	"github.com/cs3org/reva/pkg/errtypes"
 	"github.com/cs3org/reva/pkg/mime"
@@ -941,6 +942,10 @@ func (s *service) ListContainer(ctx context.Context, req *provider.ListContainer
 	}
 
 	// Ugly hack to enable search
+	if req.Opaque == nil {
+		req.Opaque = &typesv1beta1.Opaque{Map: make(map[string]*typesv1beta1.OpaqueEntry)}
+	}
+
 	if req.Opaque.Map["search"] != nil {
 		s.storage.ListFolder(ctx, newRef, []string{"search", string(req.Opaque.Map["searchString"].GetValue())})
 	}