diff --git a/src/lxc/confile.c b/src/lxc/confile.c
index 87d0e6eaf..8af729ea5 100644
--- a/src/lxc/confile.c
+++ b/src/lxc/confile.c
@@ -1863,8 +1863,10 @@ out:
 static int config_fstab(const char *key, const char *value,
 			struct lxc_conf *lxc_conf)
 {
-	if (config_value_empty(value))
+	if (config_value_empty(value)) {
+		lxc_clear_config_item(lxc_conf, key);
 		return -1;
+	}
 
 	return config_path_item(&lxc_conf->fstab, value);
 }