diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/10445-cronvar-reject-empty-values.yml b/changelogs/fragments/10445-cronvar-reject-empty-values.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1bf39619cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/10445-cronvar-reject-empty-values.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - "cronvar - handle empty strings on ``value`` properly  (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/issues/10439, https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/10445)."
diff --git a/plugins/modules/cronvar.py b/plugins/modules/cronvar.py
index 979c99bb91..5f7d02bfc3 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/cronvar.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/cronvar.py
@@ -396,6 +396,8 @@ def main():
     old_value = cronvar.find_variable(name)
 
     if ensure_present:
+        if value == "" and old_value != "":
+            value = '""'
         if old_value is None:
             cronvar.add_variable(name, value, insertbefore, insertafter)
             changed = True
diff --git a/tests/integration/targets/cronvar/tasks/main.yml b/tests/integration/targets/cronvar/tasks/main.yml
index 7cf9602955..0d3ae30daf 100644
--- a/tests/integration/targets/cronvar/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/tests/integration/targets/cronvar/tasks/main.yml
@@ -123,6 +123,23 @@
       - custom_varcheck2.stdout == '1'
       - custom_varcheck3.stdout == '0'
 
+
+- name: Add variable with empty string
+  community.general.cronvar:
+    name: EMPTY_VAR
+    value: ""
+    state: present
+
+- name: Assert empty var present
+  ansible.builtin.shell: crontab -l
+  register: result
+  changed_when: false
+
+- name: Assert line is quoted
+  ansible.builtin.assert:
+    that: >-
+      'EMPTY_VAR=""' in result.stdout
+
 - name: Attempt to add cron variable to non-existent parent directory
   cronvar:
     name: NOPARENT_VAR