diff --git a/modules/jdbc-test/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/junit/EmptyPasswordMysqlTest.java b/modules/jdbc-test/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/junit/EmptyPasswordMysqlTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0dfc3149ef5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/jdbc-test/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/junit/EmptyPasswordMysqlTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+package org.testcontainers.junit;
+
+import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariConfig;
+import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariDataSource;
+import org.junit.Rule;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.MySQLContainer;
+
+import java.sql.ResultSet;
+import java.sql.SQLException;
+import java.sql.Statement;
+
+import static org.rnorth.visibleassertions.VisibleAssertions.assertEquals;
+
+public class EmptyPasswordMysqlTest {
+    private static final String DB_NAME = "foo";
+    private static final String USER = "root"; // MySQL allows empty password with root only
+
+    // Add MYSQL_ROOT_HOST environment so that we can root login from anywhere for testing purposes
+    @Rule
+    public MySQLContainer mysql = (MySQLContainer) new MySQLContainer("mysql:5.5")
+            .withDatabaseName(DB_NAME)
+            .withUsername(USER)
+            .withPassword("")
+            .withEnv("MYSQL_ROOT_HOST", "%");
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSimple() throws SQLException {
+        HikariConfig hikariConfig = new HikariConfig();
+        hikariConfig.setJdbcUrl("jdbc:mysql://"
+                + mysql.getContainerIpAddress()
+                + ":" + mysql.getMappedPort(MySQLContainer.MYSQL_PORT)
+                + "/" + DB_NAME);
+        hikariConfig.setUsername(USER);
+        hikariConfig.setPassword("");
+
+        HikariDataSource ds = new HikariDataSource(hikariConfig);
+        Statement statement = ds.getConnection().createStatement();
+        statement.execute("SELECT 1");
+        ResultSet resultSet = statement.getResultSet();
+
+        assertEquals("There is a result", resultSet.next(), true);
+        int resultSetInt = resultSet.getInt(1);
+        assertEquals("A basic SELECT query succeeds", 1, resultSetInt);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/modules/jdbc-test/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/junit/SimpleMySQLTest.java b/modules/jdbc-test/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/junit/SimpleMySQLTest.java
index 572921d8a1e..4c3731fcaf9 100644
--- a/modules/jdbc-test/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/junit/SimpleMySQLTest.java
+++ b/modules/jdbc-test/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/junit/SimpleMySQLTest.java
@@ -1,22 +1,26 @@
 package org.testcontainers.junit;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+import static org.junit.Assume.assumeFalse;
+import static org.rnorth.visibleassertions.VisibleAssertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.rnorth.visibleassertions.VisibleAssertions.assertTrue;
+
+import java.sql.ResultSet;
+import java.sql.SQLException;
+import java.sql.Statement;
+
 import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariConfig;
 import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariDataSource;
-import lombok.NonNull;
+
 import org.apache.commons.lang.SystemUtils;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.ContainerLaunchException;
 import org.testcontainers.containers.MySQLContainer;
 import org.testcontainers.containers.output.Slf4jLogConsumer;
 
-import java.sql.ResultSet;
-import java.sql.SQLException;
-import java.sql.Statement;
-
-import static org.junit.Assume.assumeFalse;
-import static org.rnorth.visibleassertions.VisibleAssertions.assertEquals;
-import static org.rnorth.visibleassertions.VisibleAssertions.assertTrue;
+import lombok.NonNull;
 
 
 /**
@@ -128,6 +132,21 @@ public void testMySQL8() throws SQLException {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testEmptyPasswordWithNonRootUser() {
+
+        MySQLContainer container = (MySQLContainer) new MySQLContainer("mysql:5.5").withDatabaseName("TEST")
+                .withUsername("test").withPassword("").withEnv("MYSQL_ROOT_HOST", "%");
+
+        try {
+            container.start();
+            fail("ContainerLaunchException expected to be thrown");
+        } catch (ContainerLaunchException e) {
+        } finally {
+            container.stop();
+        }
+    }
+
     @NonNull
     protected ResultSet performQuery(MySQLContainer containerRule, String sql) throws SQLException {
         HikariConfig hikariConfig = new HikariConfig();
diff --git a/modules/mysql/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/containers/MySQLContainer.java b/modules/mysql/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/containers/MySQLContainer.java
index 2dbc303407f..6d9139fa971 100644
--- a/modules/mysql/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/containers/MySQLContainer.java
+++ b/modules/mysql/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/containers/MySQLContainer.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ public class MySQLContainer<SELF extends MySQLContainer<SELF>> extends JdbcDatab
     private String databaseName = "test";
     private String username = "test";
     private String password = "test";
+    private static final String MYSQL_ROOT_USER = "root";
 
     public MySQLContainer() {
         super(IMAGE + ":" + DEFAULT_TAG);
@@ -36,13 +37,20 @@ protected Set<Integer> getLivenessCheckPorts() {
 
     @Override
     protected void configure() {
-        optionallyMapResourceParameterAsVolume(MY_CNF_CONFIG_OVERRIDE_PARAM_NAME, "/etc/mysql/conf.d", "mysql-default-conf");
+        optionallyMapResourceParameterAsVolume(MY_CNF_CONFIG_OVERRIDE_PARAM_NAME, "/etc/mysql/conf.d",
+                "mysql-default-conf");
 
         addExposedPort(MYSQL_PORT);
         addEnv("MYSQL_DATABASE", databaseName);
         addEnv("MYSQL_USER", username);
-        addEnv("MYSQL_PASSWORD", password);
-        addEnv("MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD", password);
+        if (password != null && !password.isEmpty()) {
+            addEnv("MYSQL_PASSWORD", password);
+            addEnv("MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD", password);
+        } else if (MYSQL_ROOT_USER.equalsIgnoreCase(username)) {
+            addEnv("MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD", "yes");
+        } else {
+            throw new ContainerLaunchException("Empty password can be used only with the root user");
+        }
         setStartupAttempts(3);
     }