diff -up gnutls-1.4.1/src/certtool.c.request gnutls-1.4.1/src/certtool.c
--- gnutls-1.4.1/src/certtool.c.request	2006-05-12 14:02:44.000000000 +0200
+++ gnutls-1.4.1/src/certtool.c	2012-06-06 14:16:14.797388783 +0200
@@ -2136,7 +2136,7 @@ generate_request (void)
 
   pass = get_challenge_pass ();
 
-  if (pass != NULL)
+  if (pass != NULL && pass[0] != 0)
     {
       ret = gnutls_x509_crq_set_challenge_password (crq, pass);
       if (ret < 0)