diff --git a/src/uu/hashsum/src/hashsum.rs b/src/uu/hashsum/src/hashsum.rs
index 8c574f066..597bca565 100644
--- a/src/uu/hashsum/src/hashsum.rs
+++ b/src/uu/hashsum/src/hashsum.rs
@@ -692,6 +692,10 @@ where
                     Ok(l) => l,
                     Err(e) => return Err(e.map_err_context(|| "failed to read file".to_string())),
                 };
+                if line.is_empty() {
+                    // empty line, skip it
+                    continue;
+                }
                 let (ck_filename, sum, binary_check) = match gnu_re.captures(&line) {
                     Some(caps) => {
                         handle_captures(&caps, &bytes_marker, &mut bsd_reversed, &mut gnu_re)?
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_hashsum.rs b/tests/by-util/test_hashsum.rs
index e5e3e1e98..535a4d0ba 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_hashsum.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_hashsum.rs
@@ -457,6 +457,24 @@ fn test_with_escape_filename_zero_text() {
     assert!(stdout.contains("a\nb"));
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn test_check_empty_line() {
+    let scene = TestScenario::new(util_name!());
+    let at = &scene.fixtures;
+
+    at.touch("f");
+    at.write(
+        "in.md5",
+        "d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e  f\n\nd41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e  f\ninvalid\n\n",
+    );
+    scene
+        .ccmd("md5sum")
+        .arg("--check")
+        .arg(at.subdir.join("in.md5"))
+        .fails()
+        .stderr_contains("WARNING: 1 line is improperly formatted");
+}
+
 #[test]
 #[cfg(not(windows))]
 fn test_check_with_escape_filename() {