NullReferenceException in MvcSiteMapProvider at pr

The problem is I regularly get the error at the production site (ASP.NET MVC 3) but can't reproduce this error locally. The text of exception is:

ExceptionType: System.NullReferenceException
Message: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
StackTrace:
   at System.Collections.Specialized.NameObjectCollectionBase.BaseGetAllKeys()
   at System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection.get_AllKeys()
   at MvcSiteMapProvider.MvcSiteMapNode.get_MetaAttributes()
   at MvcSiteMapProvider.Web.Html.SiteMapNodeModelMapper.MapToSiteMapNodeModel(SiteMapNode node, MvcSiteMapNode mvcNode, IDictionary`2 sourceMetadata)
   at MvcSiteMapProvider.Web.Html.SiteMapPathHelper.BuildModel(MvcSiteMapHtmlHelper helper, SiteMapNode startingNode)
   at MvcSiteMapProvider.Web.Html.SiteMapPathHelper.SiteMapPath(MvcSiteMapHtmlHelper helper, String templateName)
   at ASP._Page_Views_Shared__LoggedInLayout_cshtml.Execute() in c:\Solution\Sites\Project2Site\Views\Shared\_LoggedInLayout.cshtml:line 86
   at System.Web.WebPages.WebPageBase.ExecutePageHierarchy()
   at System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage.ExecutePageHierarchy()
   at System.Web.WebPages.WebPageBase.ExecutePageHierarchy(WebPageContext pageContext, TextWriter writer, WebPageRenderingBase startPage)
   at System.Web.WebPages.WebPageBase.Write(HelperResult result)
   at System.Web.WebPages.WebPageBase.RenderSurrounding(String partialViewName, Action`1 body)
   at System.Web.WebPages.WebPageBase.PopContext()
   at System.Web.Mvc.ViewResultBase.ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
   at System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.<>c__DisplayClass1c.<InvokeActionResultWithFilters>b__19()
   at System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionResultFilter(IResultFilter filter, ResultExecutingContext preContext, Func`1 continuation)
   at System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionResultWithFilters(ControllerContext controllerContext, IList`1 filters, ActionResult actionResult)
   at System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeAction(ControllerContext controllerContext, String actionName)

I have no such errors locally. Here is where I invoke MvcSiteMap().SiteMapPath() method:

May be somebody had the same problem before. If so please share your solution.

Thanks in advance.

This won't answer your question directly, but may help you on your path to debugging the issue, seeing as it happens only in production and not in dev/debug.

Consider replacing your line:

@Html.MvcSiteMap().SiteMapPath()

With something like:

@SafeBreadCrumb()

@helper SafeBreadCrumb() {
    MvcHtmlString output;
    try
    {
        output = Html.MvcSiteMap().SiteMapPath();
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        output = new MvcHtmlString(e.Message);    
    }
    <text>@output</text>
}

Feels a little dirty, but it's easier than grabbing the source of MvcSiteMapProvider and sticking in some logging! If it happened in debug, you wouldn't need to try this. Plus it's just a view change, so won't need a recompile.