diff --git a/libcontainer/env.go b/libcontainer/env.go
index fe1abd500..71b2f69d0 100644
--- a/libcontainer/env.go
+++ b/libcontainer/env.go
@@ -17,13 +17,16 @@ import (
 //     contains no \0 (nil) bytes;
 //   - removes any duplicates (keeping only the last value for each key)
 //   - sets PATH for the current process, if found in the list;
-//   - adds HOME to returned environment, if not found in the list.
+//   - adds HOME to returned environment, if not found in the list,
+//     or the value is empty.
 //
 // Returns the prepared environment.
 func prepareEnv(env []string, uid int) ([]string, error) {
 	if env == nil {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
+	var homeIsSet bool
+
 	// Deduplication code based on dedupEnv from Go 1.22 os/exec.
 
 	// Construct the output in reverse order, to preserve the
@@ -40,6 +43,7 @@ func prepareEnv(env []string, uid int) ([]string, error) {
 			return nil, errors.New("invalid environment variable: name cannot be empty")
 		}
 		key := kv[:i]
+		val := kv[i+1:]
 		if saw[key] { // Duplicate.
 			continue
 		}
@@ -49,17 +53,25 @@ func prepareEnv(env []string, uid int) ([]string, error) {
 		}
 		if key == "PATH" {
 			// Needs to be set as it is used for binary lookup.
-			if err := os.Setenv("PATH", kv[i+1:]); err != nil {
+			if err := os.Setenv("PATH", val); err != nil {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 		}
+		if key == "HOME" {
+			if val != "" {
+				homeIsSet = true
+			} else {
+				// Don't add empty HOME to the environment, we will override it later.
+				continue
+			}
+		}
 		out = append(out, kv)
 	}
 	// Restore the original order.
 	slices.Reverse(out)
 
 	// If HOME is not found in env, get it from container's /etc/passwd and add.
-	if !saw["HOME"] {
+	if !homeIsSet {
 		home, err := getUserHome(uid)
 		if err != nil {
 			// For backward compatibility, don't return an error, but merely log it.
diff --git a/libcontainer/env_test.go b/libcontainer/env_test.go
index c91747167..18dc52e88 100644
--- a/libcontainer/env_test.go
+++ b/libcontainer/env_test.go
@@ -37,6 +37,18 @@ func TestPrepareEnv(t *testing.T) {
 			env:     []string{"TERM=vt100", "HOME=/home/one", "HOME=/home/two", "TERM=xterm", "HOME=/home/three", "FOO=bar"},
 			wantEnv: []string{"TERM=xterm", "HOME=/home/three", "FOO=bar"},
 		},
+		{
+			env:     []string{"HOME=", "HOME=/foo"},
+			wantEnv: []string{"HOME=/foo"},
+		},
+		{
+			env:     []string{"HOME="},
+			wantEnv: []string{home},
+		},
+		{
+			env:     []string{"HOME=/foo", "HOME="},
+			wantEnv: []string{home},
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range tests {