diff --git a/configure.py b/configure.py
index d13c622d540..90630f7bd0c 100755
--- a/configure.py
+++ b/configure.py
@@ -1235,7 +1235,7 @@ def configure_openssl(o):
   if options.openssl_no_asm and options.shared_openssl:
     error('--openssl-no-asm is incompatible with --shared-openssl')
 
-  if options.openssl_fips:
+  if options.openssl_fips or options.openssl_fips == '':
      error('FIPS is not supported in this version of Node.js')
 
   configure_library('openssl', o)