diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index eb6e7b0a8f..e33c5ddd2d 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+Mon May 26 01:39:02 2014  Zachary Scott  <e@zzak.io>
+
+	* lib/csv.rb: Reject nil as data source for CSV.new, patch by @Peeja.
+	  [Fixes GH-580] https://github.com/ruby/ruby/pull/580
+
 Mon May 26 01:07:51 2014  Tanaka Akira  <akr@fsij.org>
 
 	* test/lib/minitest/unit.rb: Show leaked threads and tempfiles
diff --git a/lib/csv.rb b/lib/csv.rb
index cd59d8caeb..595586a541 100644
--- a/lib/csv.rb
+++ b/lib/csv.rb
@@ -1484,6 +1484,10 @@ class CSV
   # so be sure to set what you want here.
   #
   def initialize(data, options = Hash.new)
+    if data.nil?
+      raise ArgumentError.new("Cannot parse nil as CSV")
+    end
+
     # build the options for this read/write
     options = DEFAULT_OPTIONS.merge(options)
 
diff --git a/test/csv/test_interface.rb b/test/csv/test_interface.rb
index 89b4a462f9..d6bf470f6b 100755
--- a/test/csv/test_interface.rb
+++ b/test/csv/test_interface.rb
@@ -130,6 +130,12 @@ class TestCSV::Interface < TestCSV
     end
   end
 
+  def test_nil_is_not_acceptable
+    assert_raise_with_message ArgumentError, "Cannot parse nil as CSV" do
+      CSV.new(nil)
+    end
+  end
+
   ### Test Write Interface ###
 
   def test_generate