diff --git a/Lib/platform.py b/Lib/platform.py
index 0a525871a85..570f327a806 100755
--- a/Lib/platform.py
+++ b/Lib/platform.py
@@ -261,6 +261,12 @@ _supported_dists = (
 
 def _parse_release_file(firstline):
 
+    # Default to empty 'version' and 'id' strings.  Both defaults are used
+    # when 'firstline' is empty.  'id' defaults to empty when an id can not
+    # be deduced.
+    version = ''
+    id = ''
+
     # Parse the first line
     m = _lsb_release_version.match(firstline)
     if m is not None:
@@ -278,8 +284,6 @@ def _parse_release_file(firstline):
         version = l[0]
         if len(l) > 1:
             id = l[1]
-        else:
-            id = ''
     return '', version, id
 
 def linux_distribution(distname='', version='', id='',
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_platform.py b/Lib/test/test_platform.py
index 9b752343aec..af371856862 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_platform.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_platform.py
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ class PlatformTest(unittest.TestCase):
             ('Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 4 (Nahant)', ('Red Hat Enterprise Linux', '4', 'Nahant')),
             ('CentOS release 4', ('CentOS', '4', None)),
             ('Rocks release 4.2.1 (Cydonia)', ('Rocks', '4.2.1', 'Cydonia')),
+            ('', ('', '', '')), # If there's nothing there.
             ):
             self.assertEqual(platform._parse_release_file(input), output)
 
diff --git a/Misc/ACKS b/Misc/ACKS
index f0c667a57c8..27348e907d9 100644
--- a/Misc/ACKS
+++ b/Misc/ACKS
@@ -357,6 +357,7 @@ Jeremy Hylton
 Gerhard Häring
 Mihai Ibanescu
 Lars Immisch
+Meador Inge
 Tony Ingraldi
 John Interrante
 Bob Ippolito
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index f5275b8cc4d..da9cf121a94 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -229,6 +229,9 @@ C-API
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #7773: Fix an UnboundLocalError in platform.linux_distribution() when
+  the release file is empty.
+
 - Issue #7561: Fix crashes when using bytearray objects with the posix
   module.