diff --git a/datafusion/physical-plan/src/joins/utils.rs b/datafusion/physical-plan/src/joins/utils.rs
index cf4bf2cd163fd..d9098cfd9673a 100644
--- a/datafusion/physical-plan/src/joins/utils.rs
+++ b/datafusion/physical-plan/src/joins/utils.rs
@@ -721,12 +721,13 @@ fn max_distinct_count(
                         Some(non_null_count) => Precision::Inexact(non_null_count),
                     }
                 }
-                Precision::Exact(count) => {
-                    let count = count - stats.null_count.get_value().unwrap_or(&0);
+                    Precision::Exact(count) => {
+                    let null_count = *stats.null_count.get_value().unwrap_or(&0);
+                    let non_null_count = count.checked_sub(null_count).unwrap_or(0);
                     if stats.null_count.is_exact().unwrap_or(false) {
-                        Precision::Exact(count)
+                        Precision::Exact(non_null_count)
                     } else {
-                        Precision::Inexact(count)
+                        Precision::Inexact(non_null_count)
                     }
                 }
             };
@@ -2939,4 +2940,19 @@ mod tests {
 
         Ok(())
     }
-}
+    #[test]
+    fn test_max_distinct_count_no_overflow_when_null_count_exceeds_num_rows() {
+        let num_rows = Precision::Exact(2);
+        let stats = ColumnStatistics {
+            distinct_count: Precision::Absent,
+            null_count: Precision::Exact(5), 
+            min_value: Precision::Absent,
+            max_value: Precision::Absent,
+            sum_value: Precision::Absent,
+            byte_size: Precision::Absent,
+        };
+        let result = max_distinct_count(&num_rows, &stats);
+        assert_eq!(result, Precision::Exact(0));
+    }
+   
+}               
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/joins.slt b/datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/joins.slt
index 228918c3855f2..3e81527738091 100644
--- a/datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/joins.slt
+++ b/datafusion/sqllogictest/test_files/joins.slt
@@ -5361,3 +5361,26 @@ DROP TABLE t1;
 
 statement count 0
 DROP TABLE t2;
+
+statement ok
+CREATE TABLE t1(a INT, b INT) AS VALUES 
+  (NULL, 1), (NULL, 2), (NULL, 3), (NULL, 4), (NULL, 5);
+
+statement ok
+CREATE TABLE t2(c INT) AS VALUES (1), (2);
+
+# This query panicked before the fix: the ORDER BY forces a SortExec,
+# the LIMIT gets pushed into SortExec.fetch, and the HashJoinExec
+# calls partition_statistics() on the SortExec child during execution.
+query II
+SELECT sub.a, sub.b FROM (
+  SELECT * FROM t1 ORDER BY b LIMIT 1
+) sub 
+JOIN t2 ON sub.a = t2.c;
+----
+
+statement ok
+DROP TABLE t1;
+
+statement ok
+DROP TABLE t2;
\ No newline at end of file