diff --git a/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py b/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py
index 204ad8b918..d55248c497 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oeqa/utils/qemurunner.py
@@ -123,7 +123,10 @@ class QemuRunner:
         import fcntl
         fl = fcntl.fcntl(o, fcntl.F_GETFL)
         fcntl.fcntl(o, fcntl.F_SETFL, fl | os.O_NONBLOCK)
-        return os.read(o.fileno(), 1000000).decode("utf-8")
+        try:
+            return os.read(o.fileno(), 1000000).decode("utf-8")
+        except BlockingIOError:
+            return ""
 
 
     def handleSIGCHLD(self, signum, frame):