If ejb-jar.xml if using ejb-local-ref and <local> is not specified it will result in a null pointer exception.

<ejb-jar xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/ejb-jar_3_0.xsd"
version="3.0">

<enterprise-beans>
<session>
<ejb-name>HelloBean</ejb-name>
<session-type>Stateless</session-type>
<transaction-type>Container</transaction-type>

<ejb-local-ref>
<ejb-ref-name>ejb/StatelessBeanRemote</ejb-ref-name>
<ejb-ref-type>Session</ejb-ref-type>
<!--
<local>com.jboss.examples.ejb3.StatelessLocal</local>
-->
<ejb-link>StatelessBean</ejb-link>
<injection-target>
<injection-target-class>com.jboss.examples.ejb3.HelloBean</injection-target-class>
<injection-target-name>friend</injection-target-name>
</injection-target>
</ejb-local-ref>
</session>
</enterprise-beans>
</ejb-jar>

16:09:22,815 ERROR [AbstractKernelController] Error installing to PostClassLoader: name=vfszip:/home/bmaxwell/applications/servers/eap/jboss-eap-5.2.0/jboss-eap-5.2/jboss-as/server/default/deploy/ejb-local-ref-ejb.jar/ state=ClassLoader mode=Manual requiredState=PostClassLoader
org.jboss.deployers.spi.DeploymentException: java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.jboss.deployment.MappedReferenceMetaDataResolverDeployer.internalDeploy(MappedReferenceMetaDataResolverDeployer.java:159)
at org.jboss.deployers.spi.deployer.helpers.AbstractRealDeployer.deploy(AbstractRealDeployer.java:55)
at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployerWrapper.deploy(DeployerWrapper.java:179)
at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployersImpl.doDeploy(DeployersImpl.java:1454)
at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployersImpl.doInstallParentLast(DeployersImpl.java:1314)
at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployersImpl.install(DeployersImpl.java:1115)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractControllerContext.install(AbstractControllerContext.java:348)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.install(AbstractController.java:1652)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.incrementState(AbstractController.java:938)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.resolveContexts(AbstractController.java:1082)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.resolveContexts(AbstractController.java:988)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.change(AbstractController.java:826)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.change(AbstractController.java:556)
at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployersImpl.process(DeployersImpl.java:789)
at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.main.MainDeployerImpl.process(MainDeployerImpl.java:699)
at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.repository.MainDeployerAdapter.process(MainDeployerAdapter.java:117)
at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.repository.ProfileDeployAction.install(ProfileDeployAction.java:70)
at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.repository.AbstractProfileAction.install(AbstractProfileAction.java:53)
at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.repository.AbstractProfileService.install(AbstractProfileService.java:403)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractControllerContext.install(AbstractControllerContext.java:348)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.install(AbstractController.java:1652)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.incrementState(AbstractController.java:938)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.resolveContexts(AbstractController.java:1082)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.resolveContexts(AbstractController.java:988)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.install(AbstractController.java:778)
at org.jboss.dependency.plugins.AbstractController.install(AbstractController.java:543)
at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.repository.AbstractProfileService.registerProfile(AbstractProfileService.java:308)
at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.ProfileServiceBootstrap.start(ProfileServiceBootstrap.java:256)
at org.jboss.bootstrap.AbstractServerImpl.start(AbstractServerImpl.java:461)
at org.jboss.Main.boot(Main.java:229)
at org.jboss.Main$1.call(Main.java:561)
at org.jboss.Main$1.call(Main.java:557)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:334)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:166)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.jboss.deployment.MappedReferenceMetaDataResolverDeployer.resolveEjbLocalRefs(MappedReferenceMetaDataResolverDeployer.java:906)
at org.jboss.deployment.MappedReferenceMetaDataResolverDeployer.resolve(MappedReferenceMetaDataResolverDeployer.java:743)
at org.jboss.deployment.MappedReferenceMetaDataResolverDeployer.resolve(MappedReferenceMetaDataResolverDeployer.java:768)
at org.jboss.deployment.MappedReferenceMetaDataResolverDeployer.internalDeploy(MappedReferenceMetaDataResolverDeployer.java:155)
... 34 more