diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6ced2f8e..124100f2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -92,6 +92,9 @@
 ```
 
 ### Minor changes
+* Empty leaf values, eg <a></a> are now checked at vlidation.
+  * Empty values were skipped in validation.
+  * They are now checked and invalid for ints, dec64, etc, but are treated as empty string "" for string types.
 * Optimized validation by making xml_diff work on raw cache tree (not copies)
 * Added syntactic check for yang status: current, deprecated or obsolete.
 * Added `xml_wrap` function that adds an XML node above a node as a wrapper
diff --git a/lib/src/clixon_xml_map.c b/lib/src/clixon_xml_map.c
index ff85a4d2..2c33fa89 100644
--- a/lib/src/clixon_xml_map.c
+++ b/lib/src/clixon_xml_map.c
@@ -663,6 +663,7 @@ xml_yang_validate_add(cxobj   *xt,
     char      *body;
     int        ret;
     cxobj     *x;
+    enum cv_type cvtype;
     
     /* if not given by argument (overide) use default link 
        and !Node has a config sub-statement and it is false */
@@ -688,17 +689,28 @@ xml_yang_validate_add(cxobj   *xt,
 	    /* In the union case, value is parsed as generic REST type,
 	     * needs to be reparsed when concrete type is selected
 	     */
-	    if ((body = xml_body(xt)) != NULL){
+	    if ((body = xml_body(xt)) == NULL){
+		/* We do not allow ints to be empty. Otherwise NULL strings
+		 * are considered as "" */
+		cvtype = cv_type_get(cv);
+		if (cv_isint(cvtype) || cvtype == CGV_BOOL || cvtype == CGV_DEC64){
+		    if (netconf_bad_element(cbret, "application",  yt->ys_argument, "Invalid NULL value") < 0)
+			goto done;
+		    goto fail;
+		}
+	    }
+	    else{
 		if (cv_parse1(body, cv, &reason) != 1){
 		    if (netconf_bad_element(cbret, "application",  yt->ys_argument, reason) < 0)
 			goto done;
 		    goto fail;
 		}
-		if ((ys_cv_validate(cv, yt, &reason)) != 1){
-		    if (netconf_bad_element(cbret, "application",  yt->ys_argument, reason) < 0)
-			goto done;
-		    goto fail;
-		}
+	    }
+
+	    if ((ys_cv_validate(cv, yt, &reason)) != 1){
+		if (netconf_bad_element(cbret, "application",  yt->ys_argument, reason) < 0)
+		    goto done;
+		goto fail;
 	    }
 	    break;
 	default:
diff --git a/lib/src/clixon_yang_type.c b/lib/src/clixon_yang_type.c
index 378c9d98..413d4e8e 100644
--- a/lib/src/clixon_yang_type.c
+++ b/lib/src/clixon_yang_type.c
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ cv_validate1(cg_var      *cv,
     cg_var         *cv2;
     int             retval2;
     yang_stmt      *yi = NULL;
-    char           *str;
+    char           *str = NULL;
     int             found;
     char          **vec = NULL;
     int             nvec;
@@ -435,8 +435,9 @@ cv_validate1(cg_var      *cv,
 	    case CGV_STRING:
 	    case CGV_REST:
 		if ((str = cv_string_get(cv)) == NULL)
-		    break;
-		uu = strlen(str);
+		    uu = 0; /* equal no string with empty string for range check */
+		else
+		    uu = strlen(str);
 		rets = range_check(uu, cv1, cv2, uint64);
 		break;
 	    default:
@@ -470,29 +471,34 @@ cv_validate1(cg_var      *cv,
     case CGV_STRING:
     case CGV_REST:
 	str = cv_string_get(cv);
+	/* Note, if there is no value, eg <s/>, str is NULL. 
+	 */
 	if (restype){
 	    if (strcmp(restype, "enumeration") == 0){
 		found = 0;
 		yi = NULL;
-		while ((yi = yn_each(yrestype, yi)) != NULL){
-		    if (yi->ys_keyword != Y_ENUM)
-			continue;
-		    if (strcmp(yi->ys_argument, str) == 0){
-			found++;
-			break;
+		if (str != NULL) 
+		    while ((yi = yn_each(yrestype, yi)) != NULL){
+			if (yi->ys_keyword != Y_ENUM)
+			    continue;
+			if (strcmp(yi->ys_argument, str) == 0){
+			    found++;
+			    break;
+			}
 		    }
-		}
 		if (!found){
 		    if (reason)
 			*reason = cligen_reason("'%s' does not match enumeration", str);
 		    goto fail;
 		}
 	    }
-	    if (strcmp(restype, "bits") == 0){
+	    if (strcmp(restype, "bits") == 0 && str != NULL){
 		/* The lexical representation of the bits type is a space-separated list
 		 * of the names of the bits that are set.  A zero-length string thus
 		 * represents a value where no bits are set.
 		 */
+
+		nvec = 0;
 		if ((vec = clicon_strsep(str, " \t", &nvec)) == NULL)
 		    goto done;
 		for (i=0; i<nvec; i++){
@@ -521,7 +527,7 @@ cv_validate1(cg_var      *cv,
 	    char *posix = NULL;
 	    if (regexp_xsd2posix(pattern, &posix) < 0)
 		goto done;
-	    if ((retval2 = match_regexp(str, posix)) < 0){
+	    if ((retval2 = match_regexp(str?str:"", posix)) < 0){
 		clicon_err(OE_DB, 0, "match_regexp: %s", pattern);
 		return -1;
 	    }
@@ -536,8 +542,9 @@ cv_validate1(cg_var      *cv,
 	    }
 	}
 	break;
-    case CGV_ERR:
     case CGV_VOID:
+	break; /* empty type OK */
+    case CGV_ERR:
 	retval = 0;
 	if (reason)
 	    *reason = cligen_reason("Invalid cv");
diff --git a/test/test_stream.sh b/test/test_stream.sh
index 670199eb..bf17203f 100755
--- a/test/test_stream.sh
+++ b/test/test_stream.sh
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ new "netconf EXAMPLE subscription"
 expectwait "$clixon_netconf -qf $cfg -y $fyang" '<rpc><create-subscription xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netmod:notification"><stream>EXAMPLE</stream></create-subscription></rpc>]]>]]>' '^<rpc-reply><ok/></rpc-reply>]]>]]><notification xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0"><eventTime>20' $NCWAIT
 
 new "netconf subscription with empty startTime"
-expectwait "$clixon_netconf -qf $cfg -y $fyang" '<rpc><create-subscription xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netmod:notification"><stream>EXAMPLE</stream><startTime/></create-subscription></rpc>]]>]]>' '^<rpc-reply><ok/></rpc-reply>]]>]]><notification xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0"><eventTime>20' $NCWAIT
+expecteof "$clixon_netconf -qf $cfg -y $fyang" 0 '<rpc><create-subscription xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netmod:notification"><stream>EXAMPLE</stream><startTime/></create-subscription></rpc>]]>]]>' '^<rpc-reply><rpc-error><error-type>application</error-type><error-tag>bad-element</error-tag><error-info><bad-element>startTime</bad-element></error-info><error-severity>error</error-severity><error-message>regexp match fail:'
 
 new "netconf EXAMPLE subscription with simple filter"
 expectwait "$clixon_netconf -qf $cfg -y $fyang" '<rpc><create-subscription xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netmod:notification"><stream>EXAMPLE</stream><filter type="xpath" select="event"/></create-subscription></rpc>]]>]]>' '^<rpc-reply><ok/></rpc-reply>]]>]]><notification xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:notification:1.0"><eventTime>20' $NCWAIT
diff --git a/test/test_type.sh b/test/test_type.sh
index 132e6a59..4a4c9bc3 100755
--- a/test/test_type.sh
+++ b/test/test_type.sh
@@ -123,6 +123,9 @@ module example{
          enum down;
       }
    }
+   leaf num0 {
+       type int32;
+   }
    leaf num1 {
        type int32 {
        range "1";
@@ -315,6 +318,17 @@ expecteof "$clixon_netconf -qf $cfg -y $fyang" 0 '<rpc><edit-config><target><can
 new "cli bits validate"
 expectfn "$clixon_cli -1f $cfg -l o -y $fyang validate" 0 "^$"
 
+#-------- num0 empty value
+
+new "netconf num0 no value"
+expecteof "$clixon_netconf -qf $cfg -y $fyang" 0 '<rpc><edit-config><target><candidate/></target><config><num0 xmlns="urn:example:clixon"/></config></edit-config></rpc>]]>]]>' "^<rpc-reply><ok/></rpc-reply>]]>]]>$"
+
+new "netconf validate no value wrong"
+expecteof "$clixon_netconf -qf $cfg -y $fyang" 0 "<rpc><validate><source><candidate/></source></validate></rpc>]]>]]>" '<rpc-reply><rpc-error><error-type>application</error-type><error-tag>bad-element</error-tag><error-info><bad-element>num0</bad-element></error-info><error-severity>error</error-severity><error-message>Invalid NULL value</error-message></rpc-error></rpc-reply>]]>]]>'
+
+new "netconf discard-changes"
+expecteof "$clixon_netconf -qf $cfg -y $fyang" 0 "<rpc><discard-changes/></rpc>]]>]]>" "^<rpc-reply><ok/></rpc-reply>]]>]]>$"
+
 #-------- num1 single range (1)
 
 new "cli range test num1 1 OK"