diff --git a/modules/light-clients/06-solomachine/client_state.go b/modules/light-clients/06-solomachine/client_state.go
index 36cb1135540..0d515356eee 100644
--- a/modules/light-clients/06-solomachine/client_state.go
+++ b/modules/light-clients/06-solomachine/client_state.go
@@ -125,6 +125,10 @@ func (cs *ClientState) VerifyMembership(
 		return sdkerrors.Wrapf(sdkerrors.ErrInvalidType, "expected %T, got %T", commitmenttypes.MerklePath{}, path)
 	}
 
+	if merklePath.Empty() {
+		return sdkerrors.Wrap(commitmenttypes.ErrInvalidProof, "path is empty")
+	}
+
 	signBytes := &SignBytes{
 		Sequence:    sequence,
 		Timestamp:   timestamp,
diff --git a/modules/light-clients/06-solomachine/client_state_test.go b/modules/light-clients/06-solomachine/client_state_test.go
index 3fabbb21783..11507a5eda9 100644
--- a/modules/light-clients/06-solomachine/client_state_test.go
+++ b/modules/light-clients/06-solomachine/client_state_test.go
@@ -517,6 +517,13 @@ func (suite *SoloMachineTestSuite) TestVerifyMembership() {
 				},
 				false,
 			},
+			{
+				"empty path",
+				func() {
+					path = commitmenttypes.MerklePath{}
+				},
+				false,
+			},
 		}
 
 		for _, tc := range testCases {