diff --git a/unix/syscall_unix.go b/unix/syscall_unix.go
index 0ed1d58d..3de37566 100644
--- a/unix/syscall_unix.go
+++ b/unix/syscall_unix.go
@@ -351,7 +351,11 @@ func SetsockoptLinger(fd, level, opt int, l *Linger) (err error) {
 }
 
 func SetsockoptString(fd, level, opt int, s string) (err error) {
-	return setsockopt(fd, level, opt, unsafe.Pointer(&[]byte(s)[0]), uintptr(len(s)))
+	var p unsafe.Pointer
+	if len(s) > 0 {
+		p = unsafe.Pointer(&[]byte(s)[0])
+	}
+	return setsockopt(fd, level, opt, p, uintptr(len(s)))
 }
 
 func SetsockoptTimeval(fd, level, opt int, tv *Timeval) (err error) {
diff --git a/unix/syscall_unix_test.go b/unix/syscall_unix_test.go
index 264305f2..14d25ca7 100644
--- a/unix/syscall_unix_test.go
+++ b/unix/syscall_unix_test.go
@@ -403,6 +403,14 @@ func TestSeekFailure(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestSetsockoptString(t *testing.T) {
+	// should not panic on empty string, see issue #31277
+	err := unix.SetsockoptString(-1, 0, 0, "")
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("SetsockoptString: did not fail")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestDup(t *testing.T) {
 	file, err := ioutil.TempFile("", "TestDup")
 	if err != nil {