diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a9823231680c..4eb8a8bc67cc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 * [#4451](https://github.com/bbatsov/rubocop/issues/4451): Make `Style/AndOr` cop aware of comparison methods. ([@drenmi][])
 * [#4457](https://github.com/bbatsov/rubocop/pull/4457): Fix false negative in `Lint/Void` with initialize and setter methods. ([@pocke][])
 * [#4418](https://github.com/bbatsov/rubocop/issues/4418): Register an offense in `Style/ConditionalAssignment` when the assignment line is the longest line, and it does not exceed the max line length. ([@rrosenblum][])
+* [#4491](https://github.com/bbatsov/rubocop/issues/4491): Prevent bad auto-correct in `Style/EmptyElse` for nested `if`. ([@pocke][])
 
 ### Changes
 
diff --git a/lib/rubocop/cop/style/empty_else.rb b/lib/rubocop/cop/style/empty_else.rb
index c39101560dc7..491dc94dbbca 100644
--- a/lib/rubocop/cop/style/empty_else.rb
+++ b/lib/rubocop/cop/style/empty_else.rb
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ def autocorrect(node)
         end
 
         def base_if_node(node)
+          return node unless node.case_type? || node.elsif?
           node.each_ancestor(:if).find { |parent| parent.loc.end } || node
         end
 
diff --git a/spec/rubocop/cop/style/empty_else_spec.rb b/spec/rubocop/cop/style/empty_else_spec.rb
index eb582a50c7fd..96eb374955d4 100644
--- a/spec/rubocop/cop/style/empty_else_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/rubocop/cop/style/empty_else_spec.rb
@@ -98,6 +98,27 @@
           expect_no_offenses('if cond; foo end')
         end
       end
+
+      context 'in an if-statement' do
+        let(:source) { <<-RUBY.strip_indent }
+          if cond
+            if cond2
+              something
+            else
+            end
+          end
+        RUBY
+        let(:corrected_source) { <<-RUBY.strip_indent }
+          if cond
+            if cond2
+              something
+            end
+          end
+        RUBY
+
+        it_behaves_like 'auto-correct', 'if'
+        it_behaves_like 'offense registration'
+      end
     end
 
     context 'given an unless-statement' do