diff --git a/src/runtime/metrics/description_test.go b/src/runtime/metrics/description_test.go
index 0ee9ea16d0b..71c7b00b02e 100644
--- a/src/runtime/metrics/description_test.go
+++ b/src/runtime/metrics/description_test.go
@@ -156,3 +156,10 @@ func TestDocs(t *testing.T) {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "go test -generate: doc.go already up-to-date\n")
 	}
 }
+
+func TestReadEmptySlice(t *testing.T) {
+	// Test that Read does not panic when given an empty slice.
+	// This should be a no-op.
+	metrics.Read(nil)
+	metrics.Read([]metrics.Sample{})
+}
diff --git a/src/runtime/metrics/sample.go b/src/runtime/metrics/sample.go
index 9efc5c5f06a..df1341d48c5 100644
--- a/src/runtime/metrics/sample.go
+++ b/src/runtime/metrics/sample.go
@@ -43,5 +43,8 @@ func runtime_readMetrics(unsafe.Pointer, int, int)
 // Sample values with names not appearing in [All] will have their Value populated
 // as KindBad to indicate that the name is unknown.
 func Read(m []Sample) {
+	if len(m) == 0 {
+		return
+	}
 	runtime_readMetrics(unsafe.Pointer(&m[0]), len(m), cap(m))
 }