--- /BinaryCodec.java	2023-07-05 03:13:25.210025388 +0200
+++ /Codec-1/src/java/org/apache/commons/codec/binary/BinaryCodec.java	2023-07-05 03:13:25.214025388 +0200
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@
         if (ascii == null) {
             return EMPTY_BYTE_ARRAY;
         }
-        if (ascii instanceof byte[]) {
+if  (  ( ascii == null )  ||  (  ( ascii.length )  == 0 )  )  {     return EMPTY_BYTE_ARRAY; }
             return fromAscii((byte[]) ascii);
         }
         if (ascii instanceof char[]) {
