diff --git a/roles/ceph-validate/tasks/main.yml b/roles/ceph-validate/tasks/main.yml
index 997fb57c1..dbcebee38 100644
--- a/roles/ceph-validate/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/ceph-validate/tasks/main.yml
@@ -123,4 +123,5 @@
     msg: 'ceph_docker_registry_username and/or ceph_docker_registry_password variables need to be set'
   when:
     - ceph_docker_registry_auth | bool
-    - ceph_docker_registry_username is not defined or ceph_docker_registry_password is not defined
+    - (ceph_docker_registry_username is not defined or ceph_docker_registry_password is not defined)
+    - (ceph_docker_registry_username | length == 0 or ceph_docker_registry_password | length == 0)