--- gcc/config/aarch64/aarch64-option-extensions.def
+++ gcc/config/aarch64/aarch64-option-extensions.def
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@
      the extension (for example, the 'crypto' extension depends on four
      entries: aes, pmull, sha1, sha2 being present).  In that case this field
      should contain a space (" ") separated list of the strings in 'Features'
-     that are required.  Their order is not important.  */
+     that are required.  Their order is not important.  An empty string means
+     do not detect this feature during auto detection.  */
 
 /* Enabling "fp" just enables "fp".
    Disabling "fp" also disables "simd", "crypto", "fp16", "aes", "sha2",
--- gcc/config/aarch64/driver-aarch64.c
+++ gcc/config/aarch64/driver-aarch64.c
@@ -253,6 +253,12 @@ host_detect_local_cpu (int argc, const char **argv)
 	      char *p = NULL;
 	      char *feat_string
 		= concat (aarch64_extensions[i].feat_string, NULL);
+
+	      /* If the feature contains no HWCAPS string then ignore it for the
+		 auto detection.  */
+	      if (strlen (feat_string) == 0)
+		continue;
+
 	      bool enabled = true;
 
 	      /* This may be a multi-token feature string.  We need
--- gcc/testsuite/gcc.target/aarch64/options_set_10.c
+++ gcc/testsuite/gcc.target/aarch64/options_set_10.c
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+/* { dg-do compile { target "aarch64*-*-linux*" } } */
+/* { dg-additional-options "-mcpu=native" } */
+
+int main ()
+{
+  return 0;
+}
+
+/* { dg-final { scan-assembler-not {\.arch .+\+profile.*} } } */
+
+ /* Check that an empty feature string is not detected during mcpu=native.  */