diff --git a/Source/cmTarget.cxx b/Source/cmTarget.cxx
index 4def88905..20d3208cf 100644
--- a/Source/cmTarget.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmTarget.cxx
@@ -1748,9 +1748,12 @@ void cmTarget::SetProperty(const std::string& prop, const char* value)
   else if (prop == "LINK_LIBRARIES")
     {
     this->Internal->LinkImplementationPropertyEntries.clear();
-    cmListFileBacktrace lfbt = this->Makefile->GetBacktrace();
-    cmValueWithOrigin entry(value, lfbt);
-    this->Internal->LinkImplementationPropertyEntries.push_back(entry);
+    if (value)
+      {
+      cmListFileBacktrace lfbt = this->Makefile->GetBacktrace();
+      cmValueWithOrigin entry(value, lfbt);
+      this->Internal->LinkImplementationPropertyEntries.push_back(entry);
+      }
     }
   else if (prop == "SOURCES")
     {
@@ -1834,9 +1837,12 @@ void cmTarget::AppendProperty(const std::string& prop, const char* value,
     }
   else if (prop == "LINK_LIBRARIES")
     {
-    cmListFileBacktrace lfbt = this->Makefile->GetBacktrace();
-    cmValueWithOrigin entry(value, lfbt);
-    this->Internal->LinkImplementationPropertyEntries.push_back(entry);
+    if (value)
+      {
+      cmListFileBacktrace lfbt = this->Makefile->GetBacktrace();
+      cmValueWithOrigin entry(value, lfbt);
+      this->Internal->LinkImplementationPropertyEntries.push_back(entry);
+      }
     }
   else if (prop == "SOURCES")
     {
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/CMakeLists.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/CMakeLists.txt
index 592b5e406..81029cdcc 100644
--- a/Tests/RunCMake/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ add_RunCMake_test(list)
 add_RunCMake_test(message)
 add_RunCMake_test(project)
 add_RunCMake_test(return)
+add_RunCMake_test(set_property)
 add_RunCMake_test(string)
 add_RunCMake_test(try_compile)
 add_RunCMake_test(try_run)
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/set_property/CMakeLists.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/set_property/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..18dfd2686
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/set_property/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.2)
+project(${RunCMake_TEST} NONE)
+include(${RunCMake_TEST}.cmake)
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/set_property/LINK_LIBRARIES.cmake b/Tests/RunCMake/set_property/LINK_LIBRARIES.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..994e874ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/set_property/LINK_LIBRARIES.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+add_custom_target(CustomTarget)
+set_property(TARGET CustomTarget PROPERTY LINK_LIBRARIES)
+set_property(TARGET CustomTarget APPEND PROPERTY LINK_LIBRARIES)
+get_property(val TARGET CustomTarget PROPERTY LINK_LIBRARIES)
+if (NOT "${val}" STREQUAL "")
+  message(FATAL_ERROR "LINK_LIBRARIES value is '${val}' but should be ''")
+endif()
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/set_property/RunCMakeTest.cmake b/Tests/RunCMake/set_property/RunCMakeTest.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..54e63f75c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/set_property/RunCMakeTest.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+include(RunCMake)
+
+run_cmake(LINK_LIBRARIES)