diff --git a/modules/imgproc/src/featureselect.cpp b/modules/imgproc/src/featureselect.cpp
index 4a234f3a96a336bc3157627a7b795cf523ba944f..e51859e012de487b189ebf5cdfa86bc7a2160f7b 100644
--- a/modules/imgproc/src/featureselect.cpp
+++ b/modules/imgproc/src/featureselect.cpp
@@ -275,6 +275,12 @@ void cv::goodFeaturesToTrack( InputArray _image, OutputArray _corners,
                                     _mask, blockSize, useHarrisDetector, harrisK))
 
     Mat image = _image.getMat(), eig, tmp;
+    if (image.empty())
+    {
+        _corners.release();
+        return;
+    }
+
     if( useHarrisDetector )
         cornerHarris( image, eig, blockSize, 3, harrisK );
     else