diff --git a/lib/libpam/libpam/security/pam_mod_misc.h b/lib/libpam/libpam/security/pam_mod_misc.h
index 08c9c1ab8f56..ff0cdc2dc8ea 100644
--- a/lib/libpam/libpam/security/pam_mod_misc.h
+++ b/lib/libpam/libpam/security/pam_mod_misc.h
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
  * Common option names
  */
 #define	PAM_OPT_NULLOK		"nullok"
+#define	PAM_OPT_EMPTYOK		"emptyok"
 #define PAM_OPT_AUTH_AS_SELF	"auth_as_self"
 #define PAM_OPT_ECHO_PASS	"echo_pass"
 #define PAM_OPT_DEBUG		"debug"
diff --git a/lib/libpam/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.8 b/lib/libpam/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.8
index 1345e82296c0..03f8feaf4ba9 100644
--- a/lib/libpam/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.8
+++ b/lib/libpam/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.8
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 .\"
 .\" $FreeBSD$
 .\"
-.Dd June 20, 2009
+.Dd April 3, 2020
 .Dt PAM_UNIX 8
 .Os
 .Sh NAME
@@ -116,6 +116,16 @@ privileges), the
 option may cause
 .Nm
 to allow any user to log in with any password.
+.It Cm emptyok
+If the password database contains the password for the entity being
+authenticated, but the password matches an empty string,
+then this option will forgo password prompting, and
+silently allow authentication to succeed.
+.Pp
+The difference between this and
+.Cm nullok
+is that it avoids prompting for password when the password is set
+to an empty string, as opposed to not being set.
 .It Cm local_pass
 Use only the local password database, even if NIS is in use.
 This will cause an authentication failure if the system is configured
diff --git a/lib/libpam/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.c b/lib/libpam/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.c
index ecdd10772155..29588f0af1ea 100644
--- a/lib/libpam/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.c
+++ b/lib/libpam/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.c
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ pam_sm_authenticate(pam_handle_t *pamh, int flags __unused,
 	struct passwd *pwd;
 	int retval;
 	const char *pass, *user, *realpw, *prompt;
+	const char *emptypasswd = "";
 
 	if (openpam_get_option(pamh, PAM_OPT_AUTH_AS_SELF)) {
 		user = getlogin();
@@ -116,6 +117,15 @@ pam_sm_authenticate(pam_handle_t *pamh, int flags __unused,
 			PAM_LOG("Password is empty, using fake password");
 			realpw = "*";
 		}
+		/*
+		 * Check whether the saved password hash matches the one
+		 * generated from an empty password - as opposed to empty
+		 * saved password hash, which is handled above.
+		 */
+		if (!(flags & PAM_DISALLOW_NULL_AUTHTOK) &&
+		    openpam_get_option(pamh, PAM_OPT_EMPTYOK) &&
+		    strcmp(crypt(emptypasswd, realpw), realpw) == 0)
+			return (PAM_SUCCESS);
 		lc = login_getpwclass(pwd);
 	} else {
 		PAM_LOG("Doing dummy authentication");