diff --git a/src/cmd/cover/func.go b/src/cmd/cover/func.go
index fe64374189..988c4caebf 100644
--- a/src/cmd/cover/func.go
+++ b/src/cmd/cover/func.go
@@ -191,6 +191,10 @@ func findPkgs(profiles []*Profile) (map[string]*Pkg, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	if len(list) == 0 {
+		return pkgs, nil
+	}
+
 	// Note: usually run as "go tool cover" in which case $GOROOT is set,
 	// in which case runtime.GOROOT() does exactly what we want.
 	goTool := filepath.Join(runtime.GOROOT(), "bin/go")
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/cover_mod_empty.txt b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/cover_mod_empty.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3c45243edb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/cover_mod_empty.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+go tool cover -func=cover.out
+stdout total.*statements.*0.0%
+
+go mod init golang.org/issue/33855
+
+go tool cover -func=cover.out
+stdout total.*statements.*0.0%
+
+-- cover.out --