diff --git a/src/PostgREST/Config.hs b/src/PostgREST/Config.hs
index ad88a67cb..8c6aa24ef 100644
--- a/src/PostgREST/Config.hs
+++ b/src/PostgREST/Config.hs
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ parser optPath env dbSettings roleSettings roleIsolationLvl =
     <*> parseOpenAPIMode "openapi-mode"
     <*> (fromMaybe False <$> optBool "openapi-security-active")
     <*> parseOpenAPIServerProxyURI "openapi-server-proxy-uri"
-    <*> (fmap splitOnCommas <$> optValue "server-cors-allowed-origins")
+    <*> parseCORSAllowedOrigins "server-cors-allowed-origins"
     <*> (fromMaybe "!4" <$> optString "server-host")
     <*> (fromMaybe 3000 <$> optInt "server-port")
     <*> (fmap (CI.mk . encodeUtf8) <$> optString "server-trace-header")
@@ -353,6 +353,11 @@ parser optPath env dbSettings roleSettings roleIsolationLvl =
         Nothing  -> pure [JSPKey "role"]
         Just rck -> either (fail . show) pure $ pRoleClaimKey rck
 
+    parseCORSAllowedOrigins k =
+      optString k >>= \case
+        Nothing   -> pure Nothing
+        Just orig -> pure $ Just (T.strip <$> T.splitOn "," orig)
+
     optWithAlias :: C.Parser C.Config (Maybe a) -> C.Parser C.Config (Maybe a) -> C.Parser C.Config (Maybe a)
     optWithAlias orig alias =
       orig >>= \case
diff --git a/test/io/test_io.py b/test/io/test_io.py
index fb818dcc5..91b5421ad 100644
--- a/test/io/test_io.py
+++ b/test/io/test_io.py
@@ -1239,6 +1239,27 @@ def test_preflight_request_with_cors_allowed_origin_config(defaultenv):
         )
 
 
+def test_preflight_request_with_empty_cors_allowed_origin_config(defaultenv):
+    "OPTIONS preflight request should allow all origins when config is present but empty"
+
+    env = {
+        **defaultenv,
+        "PGRST_SERVER_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS": "",
+    }
+
+    headers = {
+        "Accept": "*/*",
+        "Origin": "http://anyorigin.com",
+        "Access-Control-Request-Method": "POST",
+        "Access-Control-Request-Headers": "Content-Type",
+    }
+
+    with run(env=env) as postgrest:
+        response = postgrest.session.options("/items", headers=headers)
+        assert response.headers["Access-Control-Allow-Origin"] == "*"
+        assert "POST" in response.headers["Access-Control-Allow-Methods"]
+
+
 def test_no_preflight_request_with_CORS_config_should_return_header(defaultenv):
     "GET no preflight request should return Access-Control-Allow-Origin equal to origin"