No se pudo encontrar la clase 'android.graphics.drawable.RippleDrawable'

Estoy usando una biblioteca de terceros, hay un método que usaDrawableCompat.setTintMode(drawable, PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_IN);. Cuando probé mi aplicación en Android 5.0 +, no hubo ningún problema y funcionó bien, pero cuando se trataba de Android 4.4.4, arrojó una excepción:

    05-09 13:15:15.030 26447-26447/com.wizchen.athit E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
Process: com.wizchen.athit, PID: 26447
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.wizchen.athit/com.wizchen.athit.view.activity.MainActivity}: java.lang.NullPointerException
   at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2271)
   at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2320)
   at android.app.ActivityThread.access$800(ActivityThread.java:138)
   at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1269)
   at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
   at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:136)
   at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5117)
   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
   at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:785)
   at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:601)
   at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
   at android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.DrawableWrapperDonut.setCompatTintMode(DrawableWrapperDonut.java:278)
   at android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.DrawableCompatBase.setTintMode(DrawableCompatBase.java:48)
   at android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.DrawableCompat$BaseDrawableImpl.setTintMode(DrawableCompat.java:99)
   at android.support.v4.graphics.drawable.DrawableCompat.setTintMode(DrawableCompat.java:400)
   at com.wizchen.athit.lib.AppThemeEngine.util.TintHelper.createTintedDrawable(TintHelper.java:359)
   at com.wizchen.athit.lib.AppThemeEngine.viewprocessors.ToolbarProcessor.process(ToolbarProcessor.java:117)
   at com.wizchen.athit.lib.AppThemeEngine.viewprocessors.ToolbarProcessor.process(ToolbarProcessor.java:44)
   at com.wizchen.athit.lib.AppThemeEngine.ATE.postApply(ATE.java:209)
   at com.wizchen.athit.lib.AppThemeEngine.ATEActivity.onStart(ATEActivity.java:60)
   at com.wizchen.athit.view.activity.MainActivity.onStart(MainActivity.java:68)
   at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnStart(Instrumentation.java:1183)
   at android.app.Activity.performStart(Activity.java:5359)
   at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2244)
   at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2320) 
   at android.app.ActivityThread.access$800(ActivityThread.java:138) 
   at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1269) 
   at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102) 
   at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:136) 
   at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5117) 
   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method) 
   at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515) 
   at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:785) 
   at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:601) 
   at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method) 

Excepto el seguimiento de la pila anterior, vi información de error impresa en mi consola como esta:

05-09 13:15:15.030 26447-26447/com.wizchen.athit E/dalvikvm: Could not find class 'android.graphics.drawable.RippleDrawable', referenced from method com.wizchen.athit.lib.AppThemeEngine.util.TintHelper.setTintAuto

Y éste:

05-09 13:15:15.030 26447-26447/com.wizchen.athit E/dalvikvm: Could not find class 'android.graphics.drawable.RippleDrawable', referenced from method com.wizchen.athit.lib.AppThemeEngine.util.TintHelper.setTintSelector

Por supuesto, he compilado la biblioteca de soporte v4 en mi proyecto :)

¿Quién se ha encontrado con este problema? ¡Gracias por la ayuda!

-------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------
Actualización 1: Esto es lo que causa NullPointerException:

    @CheckResult
    @Nullable
    public static Drawable createTintedDrawable(@Nullable Drawable drawable, @ColorInt int color) {
        if (drawable == null) return null;
        drawable = DrawableCompat.wrap(drawable.mutate());
        DrawableCompat.setTintMode(drawable, PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_IN);
        DrawableCompat.setTint(drawable, color);
        return drawable;
    }

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