diff --git a/mr/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/mr/mapreduce/IcebergSplit.java b/mr/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/mr/mapreduce/IcebergSplit.java
index 7c95fbe20599..0d6c44074539 100644
--- a/mr/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/mr/mapreduce/IcebergSplit.java
+++ b/mr/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/mr/mapreduce/IcebergSplit.java
@@ -74,9 +74,13 @@ public long getLength() {
 
   @Override
   public String[] getLocations() {
-    if (locations == null) {
+    // The implementation of getLocations() is only meant to be used during split computation
+    // getLocations() won't be accurate when called on worker nodes and will always return "*"
+    if (locations == null && conf != null) {
       boolean localityPreferred = conf.getBoolean(InputFormatConfig.LOCALITY, false);
       locations = localityPreferred ? Util.blockLocations(task, conf) : ANYWHERE;
+    } else {
+      locations = ANYWHERE;
     }
 
     return locations;