diff --git a/recipes-extended/pam/libpam/0001-pam_unix_passwd-allow-blank-passwords.patch b/recipes-extended/pam/libpam/0001-pam_unix_passwd-allow-blank-passwords.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c67f8247d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipes-extended/pam/libpam/0001-pam_unix_passwd-allow-blank-passwords.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+From f285df521f3a63515615d6e7ad39a3cd5e18d88f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Erick Shepherd <erick.shepherd@ni.com>
+Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2026 11:36:50 -0500
+Subject: [PATCH] pam_unix_passwd: Allow empty password to be set
+
+Upstream-Status: Inappropriate [NI specific]
+
+Allow users to set a blank password using linux-pam by no longer
+setting blank passwords to NULL and making their shadow file entry
+blank. This is toggled by the nullok option.
+
+Signed-off-by: Erick Shepherd <erick.shepherd@ni.com>
+---
+ modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.8.xml    |  4 ++--
+ modules/pam_unix/pam_unix_passwd.c | 10 ++++++++--
+ 2 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.8.xml b/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.8.xml
+index d2cd198f..7f95beeb 100644
+--- a/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.8.xml
++++ b/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix.8.xml
+@@ -155,8 +155,8 @@
+         <listitem>
+           <para>
+             The default action of this module is to not permit the
+-            user access to a service if their official password is blank.
+-            The <option>nullok</option> argument overrides this default.
++            user access to a service if their official password is blank
++            or allow blank passwords to be set during password changes.
+           </para>
+         </listitem>
+       </varlistentry>
+diff --git a/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix_passwd.c b/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix_passwd.c
+index c01fd56b..b8ac9688 100644
+--- a/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix_passwd.c
++++ b/modules/pam_unix/pam_unix_passwd.c
+@@ -593,6 +593,7 @@ pam_sm_chauthtok(pam_handle_t *pamh, int flags, int argc, const char **argv)
+ 	int remember = -1;
+ 	int rounds = 0;
+ 	int pass_min_len = 0;
++	int nullok_enabled = 0;
+ 	struct passwd *pwd;
+ 
+ 	/* <DO NOT free() THESE> */
+@@ -605,6 +606,7 @@ pam_sm_chauthtok(pam_handle_t *pamh, int flags, int argc, const char **argv)
+ 
+ 	ctrl = _set_ctrl(pamh, flags, &remember, &rounds, &pass_min_len,
+ 	                 argc, argv);
++	nullok_enabled = off(UNIX__NONULL, ctrl);
+ 
+ 	/*
+ 	 * First get the name of a user
+@@ -772,7 +774,7 @@ pam_sm_chauthtok(pam_handle_t *pamh, int flags, int argc, const char **argv)
+ 			 * password is acceptable.
+ 			 */
+ 
+-			if (*pass_new == '\0') {	/* "\0" password = NULL */
++			if (!nullok_enabled && pass_new != NULL && *pass_new == '\0') {
+ 				pass_new = NULL;
+ 			}
+ 			retval = _pam_unix_approve_pass(pamh, ctrl, pass_old,
+@@ -828,7 +830,11 @@ pam_sm_chauthtok(pam_handle_t *pamh, int flags, int argc, const char **argv)
+ 		 * First we encrypt the new password.
+ 		 */
+ 
+-		tpass = create_password_hash(pamh, pass_new, ctrl, rounds);
++		if (pass_new != NULL && *pass_new == '\0') {
++			tpass = strdup("");
++		} else {
++			tpass = create_password_hash(pamh, pass_new, ctrl, rounds);
++		}
+ 		if (tpass == NULL) {
+ 			pam_syslog(pamh, LOG_CRIT,
+ 				"crypt() failure or out of memory for password");
+-- 
+2.51.0
+
diff --git a/recipes-extended/pam/libpam_1.%.bbappend b/recipes-extended/pam/libpam_1.%.bbappend
index eee710fd4..0dd48fa4f 100644
--- a/recipes-extended/pam/libpam_1.%.bbappend
+++ b/recipes-extended/pam/libpam_1.%.bbappend
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ FILESEXTRAPATHS:prepend := "${THISDIR}/${BPN}:"
 RDEPENDS:${PN} += "ni-acctsync pam-plugin-exec"
 
 SRC_URI += "\
+	file://0001-pam_unix_passwd-allow-blank-passwords.patch \
 	file://security/faillock.conf \
 	file://scripts/ni-acctsync-pam \
 "
@@ -10,6 +11,8 @@ SRC_URI += "\
 do_install:append() {
 	install -m 644 ${UNPACKDIR}/security/faillock.conf ${D}${sysconfdir}/security/faillock.conf
 	install -m 700 ${UNPACKDIR}/scripts/ni-acctsync-pam ${D}${sbindir}/ni-acctsync-pam
+	grep -qE 'pam_unix\.so.*[[:space:]]nullok([[:space:]]|$)' "${D}${sysconfdir}/pam.d/common-password" || \
+		sed -i -E '/pam_unix\.so/ s/(pam_unix\.so)([[:space:]]+)/\1\2nullok /' "${D}${sysconfdir}/pam.d/common-password"
 	sed -E -i '/^password[[:space:]]+requisite[[:space:]]+pam_deny\.so$/a password\toptional\t\t\tpam_exec.so /usr/sbin/ni-acctsync-pam' "${D}${sysconfdir}/pam.d/common-password"
 }