diff --git a/src/acl.c b/src/acl.c
index be28ca9e7..c8a5a8860 100644
--- a/src/acl.c
+++ b/src/acl.c
@@ -1083,15 +1083,16 @@ static int acl_read_patterns_from_file(	struct acl_keyword *aclkw,
 		while (*c == ' ' || *c == '\t')
 			c++;
 
-		/* empty lines are ignored too */
-		if (!*c)
-			continue;
 
 		args[0] = c;
 		while (*c && *c != '\n' && *c != '\r')
 			c++;
 		*c = 0;
 
+		/* empty lines are ignored too */
+		if (c == args[0])
+			continue;
+
 		/* we keep the previous pattern along iterations as long as it's not used */
 		if (!pattern)
 			pattern = (struct acl_pattern *)malloc(sizeof(*pattern));