diff --git a/src/Handshake/RequestVerifier.php b/src/Handshake/RequestVerifier.php
index 03fa022..9aba5c8 100644
--- a/src/Handshake/RequestVerifier.php
+++ b/src/Handshake/RequestVerifier.php
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ public function verifyHTTPVersion($val): bool {
      * @return bool
      */
     public function verifyRequestURI(string $val): bool {
-        if ($val[0] !== '/') {
+        if ($val === '' || $val[0] !== '/') {
             return false;
         }
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/Handshake/RequestVerifierTest.php b/tests/unit/Handshake/RequestVerifierTest.php
index 6573582..e049397 100644
--- a/tests/unit/Handshake/RequestVerifierTest.php
+++ b/tests/unit/Handshake/RequestVerifierTest.php
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ public static function uRIProvider(): array {
             array(false, '/chat#bad'),
             array(false, 'nope'),
             array(false, '/ ಠ_ಠ '),
-            array(false, '/✖')
+            array(false, '/✖'),
+            array(false, '')
         );
     }