Looks like a pretty old issue here - and there has been no update from OP. But I'm seeing the same thing against 1.3.5. My stack trace is a little different:
java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.amazonaws.services.elasticbeanstalk.model.DescribeConfigurationOptionsRequest.withOptions(DescribeConfigurationOptionsRequest.java:333)
I get this when trying to
mvn beanstalk:describe-configuration-options
or when I
mvn beanstalk:update-environment
Any pointers? My configuration is minimal. I just added the plugin at version 1.3.5, added configuration for applicationName, environmentRef, s3Bucket, and s3Key.