diff --git a/src/commands/firestore-operations-describe.spec.ts b/src/commands/firestore-operations-describe.spec.ts
index 96446444a19..bcb371b596c 100644
--- a/src/commands/firestore-operations-describe.spec.ts
+++ b/src/commands/firestore-operations-describe.spec.ts
@@ -86,9 +86,9 @@ describe("firestore:operations:describe", () => {
 
   it("should throw a FirebaseError if operation name is invalid", async () => {
     const options = { project: "test-project" };
-    await expect(command.runner()("", options)).to.be.rejectedWith(
+    await expect(command.runner()("/databases/blah", options)).to.be.rejectedWith(
       FirebaseError,
-      '"" is not a valid operation name.',
+      '"/databases/blah" is not a valid operation name.',
     );
     await expect(command.runner()("projects/p/databases/d", options)).to.be.rejectedWith(
       FirebaseError,
diff --git a/src/config.spec.ts b/src/config.spec.ts
index 5c9db806931..e381a3aff3f 100644
--- a/src/config.spec.ts
+++ b/src/config.spec.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { Config } from "./config";
 import { FIREBASE_JSON_PATH as VALID_CONFIG_PATH } from "./test/fixtures/valid-config";
 import { FIXTURE_DIR as SIMPLE_CONFIG_DIR } from "./test/fixtures/config-imports";
 import { FIXTURE_DIR as DUP_TOP_LEVEL_CONFIG_DIR } from "./test/fixtures/dup-top-level";
+import { FIREBASE_JSON_PATH as EMPTY_CONFIG_PATH } from "./test/fixtures/empty-config";
 
 describe("Config", () => {
   describe("#load", () => {
@@ -17,9 +18,16 @@ describe("Config", () => {
         configPath: path.relative(cwd, VALID_CONFIG_PATH),
       });
       expect(config).to.not.be.null;
-      if (config) {
-        expect(config.get("database.rules")).to.eq("config/security-rules.json");
-      }
+      expect(config?.get("database.rules")).to.eq("config/security-rules.json");
+    });
+    it("should fall back to {} when the file is empty", () => {
+      const cwd = __dirname;
+      const config = Config.load({
+        cwd,
+        configPath: path.relative(cwd, EMPTY_CONFIG_PATH),
+      });
+      expect(config).to.not.be.null;
+      expect(config?.data).to.deep.eq({});
     });
   });
 
diff --git a/src/config.ts b/src/config.ts
index 1f337e6877a..b42c6121d84 100644
--- a/src/config.ts
+++ b/src/config.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import * as _ from "lodash";
 import * as clc from "colorette";
 import * as fs from "fs-extra";
 import * as path from "path";
-const cjson = require("cjson");
 
 import { detectProjectRoot } from "./detectProjectRoot";
 import { FirebaseError } from "./error";
@@ -303,7 +302,10 @@ export class Config {
     if (pd) {
       try {
         const filePath = path.resolve(pd, path.basename(filename));
-        const data = cjson.load(filePath);
+        let data: unknown = {};
+        if (fs.statSync(filePath).size > 0) {
+          data = loadCJSON(filePath);
+        }
 
         // Validate config against JSON Schema. For now we just print these to debug
         // logs but in a future CLI version they could be warnings and/or errors.
diff --git a/src/test/fixtures/empty-config/firebase.json b/src/test/fixtures/empty-config/firebase.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e69de29bb2d
diff --git a/src/test/fixtures/empty-config/index.ts b/src/test/fixtures/empty-config/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..dbf104ec838
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/fixtures/empty-config/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import { resolve } from "path";
+
+/**
+ * A directory containing an empty rebase.json.
+ */
+export const FIXTURE_DIR = __dirname;
+
+export const FIREBASE_JSON_PATH = resolve(__dirname, "firebase.json");