diff --git a/ext/openssl/ossl_pkcs7.c b/ext/openssl/ossl_pkcs7.c
index 78dcbd667a..cde2ac04a4 100644
--- a/ext/openssl/ossl_pkcs7.c
+++ b/ext/openssl/ossl_pkcs7.c
@@ -346,6 +346,8 @@ ossl_pkcs7_initialize(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE self)
     BIO_free(in);
     if (!p7)
         ossl_raise(rb_eArgError, "Could not parse the PKCS7");
+    if (!p7->d.ptr)
+        ossl_raise(rb_eArgError, "No content in PKCS7");
 
     RTYPEDDATA_DATA(self) = p7;
     PKCS7_free(p7_orig);
diff --git a/test/openssl/test_pkcs7.rb b/test/openssl/test_pkcs7.rb
index ba8b93d034..fa15bdbca7 100644
--- a/test/openssl/test_pkcs7.rb
+++ b/test/openssl/test_pkcs7.rb
@@ -155,6 +155,11 @@ class OpenSSL::TestPKCS7 < OpenSSL::TestCase
     assert_equal(data, p7.decrypt(@rsa1024))
   end
 
+  def test_empty_signed_data_ruby_bug_19974
+    data = "-----BEGIN PKCS7-----\nMAsGCSqGSIb3DQEHAg==\n-----END PKCS7-----\n"
+    assert_raise(ArgumentError) { OpenSSL::PKCS7.new(data) }
+  end
+
   def test_graceful_parsing_failure #[ruby-core:43250]
     contents = File.read(__FILE__)
     assert_raise(ArgumentError) { OpenSSL::PKCS7.new(contents) }