diff --git a/builtin/push.c b/builtin/push.c
index 03adb586029..194967ed79d 100644
--- a/builtin/push.c
+++ b/builtin/push.c
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ static void set_refspecs(const char **refs, int nr, const char *repo)
 			else
 				refspec_appendf(&rs, "refs/tags/%s", ref);
 		} else if (deleterefs) {
-			if (strchr(ref, ':'))
+			if (strchr(ref, ':') || !*ref)
 				die(_("--delete only accepts plain target ref names"));
 			refspec_appendf(&rs, ":%s", ref);
 		} else if (!strchr(ref, ':')) {
diff --git a/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh b/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
index 15262b41929..f11742ed599 100755
--- a/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
+++ b/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
@@ -820,6 +820,11 @@ test_expect_success 'push --delete refuses src:dest refspecs' '
 	test_must_fail git push testrepo --delete main:foo
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'push --delete refuses empty string' '
+	mk_test testrepo heads/master &&
+	test_must_fail git push testrepo --delete ""
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'warn on push to HEAD of non-bare repository' '
 	mk_test testrepo heads/main &&
 	(