diff --git a/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/AuthenticationProtocolHandler.java b/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/AuthenticationProtocolHandler.java
index 6709f951200..4e67e1fbee0 100644
--- a/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/AuthenticationProtocolHandler.java
+++ b/jetty-client/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/AuthenticationProtocolHandler.java
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ public abstract class AuthenticationProtocolHandler implements ProtocolHandler
 {
     public static final int DEFAULT_MAX_CONTENT_LENGTH = 16*1024;
     public static final Logger LOG = Log.getLogger(AuthenticationProtocolHandler.class);
-    private static final Pattern AUTHENTICATE_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("([^\\s]+)\\s+realm=\"([^\"]+)\"(.*)", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
+    private static final Pattern AUTHENTICATE_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("([^\\s]+)\\s+realm=\"([^\"]*)\"(.*)", Pattern.CASE_INSENSITIVE);
 
     private final HttpClient client;
     private final int maxContentLength;
diff --git a/jetty-client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpClientAuthenticationTest.java b/jetty-client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpClientAuthenticationTest.java
index 07cc0cde850..b68e7641c59 100644
--- a/jetty-client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpClientAuthenticationTest.java
+++ b/jetty-client/src/test/java/org/eclipse/jetty/client/HttpClientAuthenticationTest.java
@@ -110,6 +110,15 @@ public class HttpClientAuthenticationTest extends AbstractHttpClientServerTest
         test_Authentication(new BasicAuthentication(uri, realm, "basic", "basic"));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void test_BasicEmptyRealm() throws Exception
+    {
+        realm = "";
+        startBasic(new EmptyServerHandler());
+        URI uri = URI.create(scheme + "://localhost:" + connector.getLocalPort());
+        test_Authentication(new BasicAuthentication(uri, realm, "basic", "basic"));
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void test_DigestAuthentication() throws Exception
     {