diff --git a/src/uu/mkdir/src/mkdir.rs b/src/uu/mkdir/src/mkdir.rs
index c65fa1167..46084ba9e 100644
--- a/src/uu/mkdir/src/mkdir.rs
+++ b/src/uu/mkdir/src/mkdir.rs
@@ -160,6 +160,13 @@ fn exec(dirs: ValuesRef<OsString>, recursive: bool, mode: u32, verbose: bool) ->
 /// To match the GNU behavior, a path with the last directory being a single dot
 /// (like `some/path/to/.`) is created (with the dot stripped).
 pub fn mkdir(path: &Path, recursive: bool, mode: u32, verbose: bool) -> UResult<()> {
+    if path.as_os_str().is_empty() {
+        return Err(USimpleError::new(
+            1,
+            "cannot create directory '': No such file or directory".to_owned(),
+        ));
+    }
+
     // Special case to match GNU's behavior:
     // mkdir -p foo/. should work and just create foo/
     // std::fs::create_dir("foo/."); fails in pure Rust
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_mkdir.rs b/tests/by-util/test_mkdir.rs
index 9978cbca9..b9d5275f4 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_mkdir.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_mkdir.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 //
 // For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
 // file that was distributed with this source code.
+
+// spell-checker:ignore bindgen
+
 #![allow(clippy::cast_sign_loss, clippy::cast_possible_truncation)]
 
 use crate::common::util::TestScenario;
@@ -332,3 +335,11 @@ fn test_umask_compliance() {
         test_single_case(i as mode_t);
     }
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn test_empty_argument() {
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .arg("")
+        .fails()
+        .stderr_only("mkdir: cannot create directory '': No such file or directory\n");
+}