diff --git a/www/lib/kojiweb/util.py b/www/lib/kojiweb/util.py
index 7aa03665..bf099f5f 100644
--- a/www/lib/kojiweb/util.py
+++ b/www/lib/kojiweb/util.py
@@ -211,6 +211,12 @@ class FieldStorageCompat(Mapping):
     """Emulate the parts of cgi.FieldStorage that we need"""
 
     def __init__(self, environ):
+        qs = environ.get('QUERY_STRING', '')
+        if not qs:
+            # for python < 3.11, parse_qs will error on a blank string
+            self.data = {}
+            return
+
         data = parse_qs(environ.get('QUERY_STRING', ''), strict_parsing=True,
                         keep_blank_values=True)
         # replace singleton lists with single values