diff --git a/tools/cmake/utilities.cmake b/tools/cmake/utilities.cmake
index be47d2f8218..4625ef43d99 100644
--- a/tools/cmake/utilities.cmake
+++ b/tools/cmake/utilities.cmake
@@ -178,7 +178,12 @@ endfunction()
 
 # Convert a CMake list to a JSON list and store it in a variable
 function(make_json_list list variable)
-    string(REPLACE ";" "\", \"" result "[ \"${list}\" ]")
+    list(LENGTH list length)
+    if(${length})
+        string(REPLACE ";" "\", \"" result "[ \"${list}\" ]")
+    else()
+        set(result "[]")
+    endif()
     set("${variable}" "${result}" PARENT_SCOPE)
 endfunction()