diff --git a/.changeset/popular-students-sniff.md b/.changeset/popular-students-sniff.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e42d5ef51b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/popular-students-sniff.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-code-coverage-backend': patch
+---
+
+check for existence of lines property in files
diff --git a/plugins/code-coverage-backend/src/service/converter/jacoco.ts b/plugins/code-coverage-backend/src/service/converter/jacoco.ts
index be46c5152e..c252c00d4e 100644
--- a/plugins/code-coverage-backend/src/service/converter/jacoco.ts
+++ b/plugins/code-coverage-backend/src/service/converter/jacoco.ts
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ export class Jacoco implements Converter {
   private extractLines(sourcefile: JacocoSourceFile): ParsedLine[] {
     const parsed: ParsedLine[] = [];
 
-    sourcefile.line.forEach(l => {
+    sourcefile.line?.forEach(l => {
       parsed.push({
         number: parseInt(l.$.nr, 10),
         missed_instructions: parseInt(l.$.mi, 10),
diff --git a/plugins/code-coverage-backend/src/service/converter/types.ts b/plugins/code-coverage-backend/src/service/converter/types.ts
index 978961acb4..90ce25bcf0 100644
--- a/plugins/code-coverage-backend/src/service/converter/types.ts
+++ b/plugins/code-coverage-backend/src/service/converter/types.ts
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ export type JacocoSourceFile = {
   $: {
     name: string;
   };
-  line: JacocoLine[];
+  line: JacocoLine[] | undefined;
 };
 export type JacocoLine = {
   $: {