diff --git a/autofile/group.go b/autofile/group.go
index 4b3cd6565..6d70a3dbb 100644
--- a/autofile/group.go
+++ b/autofile/group.go
@@ -606,6 +606,8 @@ func (gr *GroupReader) Read(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
 			}
 		} else if err != nil {
 			return n, err
+		} else if nn == 0 { // empty file
+			return n, err
 		}
 	}