diff --git a/pkg/pkg.status b/pkg/pkg.status
index 8707e64..8a80c28 100644
--- a/pkg/pkg.status
+++ b/pkg/pkg.status
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@
 analyzer/test/src/dart/analysis/driver_resolution_kernel_test: Slow, Pass
 analyzer/test/src/dart/analysis/driver_test: Slow, Pass
 analyzer/test/src/task/strong/inferred_type_test: Slow, Pass
+analyzer/tool/experiments/experiments_test: Skip # https://github.com/dart-lang/sdk/issues/46277
 analyzer_plugin/test/src/utilities/change_builder/change_builder_dart_test: Slow, Pass
 analyzer_plugin/test/src/utilities/completion/optype_test: Slow, Pass
 dartdev/test/*: Slow, Pass
diff --git a/sdk/lib/_internal/vm/lib/convert_patch.dart b/sdk/lib/_internal/vm/lib/convert_patch.dart
index 0779d4a..9e920ea 100644
--- a/sdk/lib/_internal/vm/lib/convert_patch.dart
+++ b/sdk/lib/_internal/vm/lib/convert_patch.dart
@@ -63,13 +63,13 @@
   }
 }
 
-class _JsonUtf8Decoder extends Converter<List<int>, Object> {
+class _JsonUtf8Decoder extends Converter<List<int>, Object?> {
   final Object? Function(Object? key, Object? value)? _reviver;
   final bool _allowMalformed;
 
   _JsonUtf8Decoder(this._reviver, this._allowMalformed);
 
-  Object convert(List<int> input) {
+  Object? convert(List<int> input) {
     var parser = _JsonUtf8DecoderSink._createParser(_reviver, _allowMalformed);
     parser.chunk = input;
     parser.chunkEnd = input.length;
diff --git a/tests/lib/convert/json_utf8_test.dart b/tests/lib/convert/json_utf8_test.dart
index 1564455..beb6c99 100644
--- a/tests/lib/convert/json_utf8_test.dart
+++ b/tests/lib/convert/json_utf8_test.dart
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@
 
   Expect.throws<FormatException>(
       () => parseFuse(" [\xEF\xBB\xBF]".codeUnits.toList()));
+
+  // Regression test for dartbug.com/46205
+  // Bug occurs in sound null safe mode only.
+  Expect.isNull(parseFuse("null".codeUnits.toList()));
 }
 
 Object? parseFuse(List<int> text) {
diff --git a/tools/VERSION b/tools/VERSION
index 8748a0a..253e934 100644
--- a/tools/VERSION
+++ b/tools/VERSION
@@ -27,5 +27,5 @@
 MAJOR 2
 MINOR 14
 PATCH 0
-PRERELEASE 187
+PRERELEASE 188
 PRERELEASE_PATCH 0
\ No newline at end of file