diff --git a/Source/cmTarget.cxx b/Source/cmTarget.cxx
index d1d81fd39f..623bc41942 100644
--- a/Source/cmTarget.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmTarget.cxx
@@ -3707,7 +3707,8 @@ bool cmTarget::GetMappedConfigNew(std::string desiredConfig, cmValue& loc,
   }
 
   // Get imported configurations, if specified.
-  if (cmValue iconfigs = this->GetProperty("IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS")) {
+  cmValue const iconfigs = this->GetProperty("IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS");
+  if (!iconfigs.IsEmpty()) {
     cmList const availableConfigs{ cmSystemTools::UpperCase(*iconfigs) };
 
     if (!mappedConfigs.empty()) {
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/Empty-IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS-result.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/Empty-IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS-result.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d00491fd7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/Empty-IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS-result.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+1
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/Empty-IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS-stderr.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/Empty-IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS-stderr.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c5ac1d21f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/Empty-IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS-stderr.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+(CMake Error in CMakeLists.txt:
+  IMPORTED_LOCATION not set for imported target "imported"( configuration
+  "[A-Za-z]+")?\.
+
+)+
+CMake Generate step failed\.  Build files cannot be regenerated correctly\.
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/Empty-IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS.cmake b/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/Empty-IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..918a4b3214
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/Empty-IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 4.4)
+project(empty_imported_configuration NONE)
+
+add_library(imported UNKNOWN IMPORTED)
+set_property(TARGET imported PROPERTY IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS "")
+
+file(GENERATE OUTPUT out.txt CONTENT "$<TARGET_FILE:imported>")
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/RunCMakeTest.cmake b/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/RunCMakeTest.cmake
index 5cc6790858..bc028259e0 100644
--- a/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/RunCMakeTest.cmake
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/GeneratorExpression/RunCMakeTest.cmake
@@ -184,6 +184,8 @@ run_cmake_build(CMP0200-NEW)
 
 run_cmake_build(CMP0199-NEW+CMP0200-NEW)
 
+run_cmake(Empty-IMPORTED_CONFIGURATIONS)
+
 set(RunCMake_TEST_OPTIONS -DCMAKE_POLICY_DEFAULT_CMP0085:STRING=OLD)
 run_cmake(CMP0085-OLD)
 unset(RunCMake_TEST_OPTIONS)