diff --git a/gcc/testsuite/gfortran.dg/pr96486.f90 b/gcc/testsuite/gfortran.dg/pr96486.f90
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fdc7025d61c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gcc/testsuite/gfortran.dg/pr96486.f90
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+! { dg-do run }
+
+program test
+  implicit none
+  character(0) :: value
+  integer :: l, stat
+  call get_environment_variable("HOME",value,length=l,status=stat)
+  if (stat.ne.-1) stop 1
+end program test
diff --git a/libgfortran/intrinsics/env.c b/libgfortran/intrinsics/env.c
index b7837b30873..7ab0b443897 100644
--- a/libgfortran/intrinsics/env.c
+++ b/libgfortran/intrinsics/env.c
@@ -110,10 +110,7 @@ get_environment_variable_i4 (char *name, char *value, GFC_INTEGER_4 *length,
 
   if (value != NULL)
     { 
-      if (value_len < 1)
-	runtime_error ("Zero-length string passed as value to "
-		       "get_environment_variable.");
-      else
+      if (value_len > 0)
 	memset (value, ' ', value_len); /* Blank the string.  */
     }
 
@@ -138,7 +135,7 @@ get_environment_variable_i4 (char *name, char *value, GFC_INTEGER_4 *length,
 	      memcpy (value, res, value_len);
 	      stat = GFC_VALUE_TOO_SHORT;
 	    }
-	  else
+	  else if (res_len > 0)
 	    memcpy (value, res, res_len);
 	}
     }