Since commit 7bbaa391 (2014-07-03, "Catch invalid null pointer
operations early"), this misbehaviour manifests itself as an assertion
at include/com/sun/star/uno/Reference.h line 402; versions of
LibreOffice prior to that, including notably bibisect-43all oldest,
fail instead with a segmentation fault reported by the JRE.

@Stephan, I am adding you to the cc because I see your name on commit
7bbaa391.


STR

(1) Run LibreOffice with command-line parameter --base to create a new
    .odb file with embedded HSQLDB database; do not register the
    database.

(2) In left pane click <Forms> and in top pane click "Create Form in
    Design View".

(3) In the toolbar at the left of the screen, click icon "List Box".
    Move the mouse cursor over the design area and observe that the
    cursor changes to a crasshair with box.

(4) In the main design area, drag the mouse from one point to another;
    observe that the program draws a rectangle between the two points.

(5) Still holding the mouse button, return to the original point.
    The rectangle previously visible disappears completely.

(6) Release the mouse button.  The program crashes, one way or the
    other.