diff --git a/Lib/test/test_os.py b/Lib/test/test_os.py
index a5f5de3..085e6fa 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_os.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_os.py
@@ -441,6 +441,9 @@
     def test_execvpe_with_bad_program(self):
         self.assertRaises(OSError, os.execvpe, 'no such app-', [], None)
 
+    def test_execvpe_with_bad_arglist(self):
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, os.execvpe, 'notepad', [], None)
+
 class Win32ErrorTests(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_rename(self):
         self.assertRaises(WindowsError, os.rename, test_support.TESTFN, test_support.TESTFN+".bak")
diff --git a/Modules/posixmodule.c b/Modules/posixmodule.c
index 4e6e0c5..5f8cde6 100644
--- a/Modules/posixmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/posixmodule.c
@@ -2834,6 +2834,11 @@
                 PyMem_Free(path);
 		return NULL;
 	}
+	if (argc < 1) {
+		PyErr_SetString(PyExc_ValueError, "execv() arg 2 must not be empty");
+                PyMem_Free(path);
+		return NULL;
+	}
 
 	argvlist = PyMem_NEW(char *, argc+1);
 	if (argvlist == NULL) {