diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4e20dd9c..dbf449e5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ $ npm install jsonwebtoken
 `secretOrPrivateKey` is a string (utf-8 encoded), buffer, object, or KeyObject containing either the secret for HMAC algorithms or the PEM
 encoded private key for RSA and ECDSA. In case of a private key with passphrase an object `{ key, passphrase }` can be used (based on [crypto documentation](https://nodejs.org/api/crypto.html#crypto_sign_sign_private_key_output_format)), in this case be sure you pass the `algorithm` option.
 When signing with RSA algorithms the minimum modulus length is 2048 except when the allowInsecureKeySizes option is set to true. Private keys below this size will be rejected with an error.
+When signing with HMAC algorithms an empty secret (an empty string, a zero-length buffer or an empty `KeyObject`) is rejected with an error.
 
 `options`:
 
@@ -134,7 +135,7 @@ jwt.sign({
 `token` is the JsonWebToken string
 
 `secretOrPublicKey` is a string (utf-8 encoded), buffer, or KeyObject containing either the secret for HMAC algorithms, or the PEM
-encoded public key for RSA and ECDSA.
+encoded public key for RSA and ECDSA. An empty secret (an empty string, a zero-length buffer or an empty `KeyObject`) is rejected for HMAC algorithms.
 If `jwt.verify` is called asynchronous, `secretOrPublicKey` can be a function that should fetch the secret or public key. See below for a detailed example
 
 As mentioned in [this comment](https://github.com/auth0/node-jsonwebtoken/issues/208#issuecomment-231861138), there are other libraries that expect base64 encoded secrets (random bytes encoded using base64), if that is your case you can pass `Buffer.from(secret, 'base64')`, by doing this the secret will be decoded using base64 and the token verification will use the original random bytes.
diff --git a/sign.js b/sign.js
index 82bf526e..99f683ab 100644
--- a/sign.js
+++ b/sign.js
@@ -125,6 +125,8 @@ module.exports = function (payload, secretOrPrivateKey, options, callback) {
 
   if (header.alg.startsWith('HS') && secretOrPrivateKey.type !== 'secret') {
     return failure(new Error((`secretOrPrivateKey must be a symmetric key when using ${header.alg}`)))
+  } else if (header.alg.startsWith('HS') && secretOrPrivateKey.symmetricKeySize === 0) {
+    return failure(new Error('secretOrPrivateKey must have a value'));
   } else if (/^(?:RS|PS|ES)/.test(header.alg)) {
     if (secretOrPrivateKey.type !== 'private') {
       return failure(new Error((`secretOrPrivateKey must be an asymmetric key when using ${header.alg}`)))
diff --git a/test/empty_secret.tests.js b/test/empty_secret.tests.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0a9b740d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/empty_secret.tests.js
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const jwt = require('../index');
+const JsonWebTokenError = require('../lib/JsonWebTokenError');
+const expect = require('chai').expect;
+const crypto = require('crypto');
+
+// Some older Node.js versions reject zero-length keys in createSecretKey(), in
+// which case the key is reported as invalid key material instead. Either way
+// the empty key must be rejected.
+const SIGN_ERROR = /secretOrPrivateKey must have a value|secretOrPrivateKey is not valid key material/;
+const VERIFY_ERROR = /secret or public key must be provided|secretOrPublicKey is not valid key material/;
+
+function createEmptySecretKey() {
+  try {
+    return crypto.createSecretKey(Buffer.alloc(0));
+  } catch (_) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+}
+
+const emptySecretKey = createEmptySecretKey();
+const itWithEmptyKeyObject = emptySecretKey ? it : it.skip;
+
+function base64url(value) {
+  return Buffer.from(value).toString('base64').replace(/[=]/g, '').replace(/\+/g, '-').replace(/\//g, '_');
+}
+
+// HS256 token signed with a zero-length key, built without jsonwebtoken.
+function signWithEmptyKey(payload) {
+  const signingInput = base64url(JSON.stringify({ alg: 'HS256', typ: 'JWT' })) + '.' + base64url(JSON.stringify(payload));
+  const signature = crypto.createHmac('sha256', Buffer.alloc(0)).update(signingInput).digest();
+  return signingInput + '.' + base64url(signature);
+}
+
+describe('empty HMAC secret', function () {
+  describe('when signing', function () {
+    it('should reject an empty string', function () {
+      expect(function () {
+        jwt.sign({ foo: 'bar' }, '', { algorithm: 'HS256' });
+      }).to.throw(Error, 'secretOrPrivateKey must have a value');
+    });
+
+    it('should reject an empty Buffer', function () {
+      expect(function () {
+        jwt.sign({ foo: 'bar' }, Buffer.alloc(0), { algorithm: 'HS256' });
+      }).to.throw(Error, SIGN_ERROR);
+    });
+
+    it('should reject an empty Buffer with the default algorithm', function () {
+      expect(function () {
+        jwt.sign({ foo: 'bar' }, Buffer.alloc(0));
+      }).to.throw(Error, SIGN_ERROR);
+    });
+
+    itWithEmptyKeyObject('should reject an empty secret KeyObject', function () {
+      expect(function () {
+        jwt.sign({ foo: 'bar' }, emptySecretKey, { algorithm: 'HS256' });
+      }).to.throw(Error, 'secretOrPrivateKey must have a value');
+    });
+
+    it('should return an error to the callback for an empty Buffer', function (done) {
+      jwt.sign({ foo: 'bar' }, Buffer.alloc(0), { algorithm: 'HS256' }, function (err, token) {
+        expect(token).to.be.undefined;
+        expect(err).to.be.instanceOf(Error);
+        expect(err.message).to.match(SIGN_ERROR);
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should still sign with an empty Buffer when the algorithm is none', function () {
+      const token = jwt.sign({ foo: 'bar' }, Buffer.alloc(0), { algorithm: 'none' });
+      expect(token.split('.')[2]).to.equal('');
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('when verifying', function () {
+    const token = signWithEmptyKey({ foo: 'bar' });
+
+    it('should reject an empty string', function () {
+      expect(function () {
+        jwt.verify(token, '');
+      }).to.throw(JsonWebTokenError, 'secret or public key must be provided');
+    });
+
+    it('should reject an empty Buffer', function () {
+      expect(function () {
+        jwt.verify(token, Buffer.alloc(0));
+      }).to.throw(JsonWebTokenError, VERIFY_ERROR);
+    });
+
+    it('should reject an empty Buffer when HS256 is explicitly allowed', function () {
+      expect(function () {
+        jwt.verify(token, Buffer.alloc(0), { algorithms: ['HS256'] });
+      }).to.throw(JsonWebTokenError, VERIFY_ERROR);
+    });
+
+    itWithEmptyKeyObject('should reject an empty secret KeyObject', function () {
+      expect(function () {
+        jwt.verify(token, emptySecretKey, { algorithms: ['HS256'] });
+      }).to.throw(JsonWebTokenError, 'secret or public key must be provided');
+    });
+
+    it('should reject an empty Buffer returned by a secret callback', function (done) {
+      const getSecret = function (header, callback) {
+        callback(null, Buffer.alloc(0));
+      };
+      jwt.verify(token, getSecret, { algorithms: ['HS256'] }, function (err, decoded) {
+        expect(decoded).to.be.undefined;
+        expect(err).to.be.instanceOf(JsonWebTokenError);
+        expect(err.message).to.match(VERIFY_ERROR);
+        done();
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should still verify a token signed with a non-empty Buffer secret', function () {
+      const secret = Buffer.from('a-non-empty-secret');
+      const decoded = jwt.verify(jwt.sign({ foo: 'bar' }, secret), secret);
+      expect(decoded.foo).to.equal('bar');
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/verify.js b/verify.js
index cdbfdc45..53d5a6ce 100644
--- a/verify.js
+++ b/verify.js
@@ -147,6 +147,8 @@ module.exports = function (jwtString, secretOrPublicKey, options, callback) {
 
     if (header.alg.startsWith('HS') && secretOrPublicKey.type !== 'secret') {
       return done(new JsonWebTokenError((`secretOrPublicKey must be a symmetric key when using ${header.alg}`)))
+    } else if (header.alg.startsWith('HS') && secretOrPublicKey.symmetricKeySize === 0) {
+      return done(new JsonWebTokenError('secret or public key must be provided'));
     } else if (/^(?:RS|PS|ES)/.test(header.alg) && secretOrPublicKey.type !== 'public') {
       return done(new JsonWebTokenError((`secretOrPublicKey must be an asymmetric key when using ${header.alg}`)))
     }