diff --git a/repos/libports/src/lib/libc/vfs_plugin.cc b/repos/libports/src/lib/libc/vfs_plugin.cc
index 7c73d20184..9b36f73fb8 100644
--- a/repos/libports/src/lib/libc/vfs_plugin.cc
+++ b/repos/libports/src/lib/libc/vfs_plugin.cc
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ Libc::File_descriptor *Libc::Vfs_plugin::open(char const *path, int flags,
 
 	Vfs::Vfs_handle *handle = 0;
 
-	while (handle == 0) {
+	while (handle == nullptr) {
 
 		switch (VFS_THREAD_SAFE(_root_dir.open(path, flags, &handle, _alloc))) {
 
diff --git a/repos/os/src/lib/vfs/inline_file_system.h b/repos/os/src/lib/vfs/inline_file_system.h
index 1b2c60bc84..6554c0beb3 100644
--- a/repos/os/src/lib/vfs/inline_file_system.h
+++ b/repos/os/src/lib/vfs/inline_file_system.h
@@ -120,6 +120,13 @@ class Vfs::Inline_file_system : public Single_file_system
 			if (!_single_file(path))
 				return OPEN_ERR_UNACCESSIBLE;
 
+			/* empty node */
+			if (_node.content_size() == 0) {
+				*out_handle = new (alloc)
+					Inline_vfs_handle(*this, *this, alloc, nullptr, 0);
+				return OPEN_OK;
+			}
+
 			try {
 				_node.with_raw_content([&] (char const *base, Genode::size_t size) {
 					*out_handle = new (alloc)