diff -uarN dropbear-0.50.orig/options.h dropbear-0.50/options.h
--- dropbear-0.50.orig/options.h	2007-08-08 17:39:37.000000000 +0200
+++ dropbear-0.50/options.h	2008-02-01 00:22:07.000000000 +0100
@@ -148,6 +148,9 @@
  * SSH_ASKPASS instead. Comment out this var to remove this functionality.*/
 #define DROPBEAR_PASSWORD_ENV "DROPBEAR_PASSWORD"
 
+/* disable server empty password check because root has no password on EZX */
+#define DISABLE_SVR_EMPTY_PASSWD_CHECK
+
 /* Define this (as well as ENABLE_CLI_PASSWORD_AUTH) to allow the use of
  * a helper program for the ssh client. The helper program should be
  * specified in the SSH_ASKPASS environment variable, and dbclient
diff -uarN dropbear-0.50.orig/svr-auth.c dropbear-0.50/svr-auth.c
--- dropbear-0.50.orig/svr-auth.c	2007-08-08 17:39:37.000000000 +0200
+++ dropbear-0.50/svr-auth.c	2008-02-01 00:22:07.000000000 +0100
@@ -236,6 +236,7 @@
 		return DROPBEAR_FAILURE;
 	}
 
+#ifndef DISABLE_SVR_EMPTY_PASSWD_CHECK
 	/* check for an empty password */
 	if (ses.authstate.pw->pw_passwd[0] == '\0') {
 		TRACE(("leave checkusername: empty pword"))
@@ -244,6 +245,7 @@
 		send_msg_userauth_failure(0, 1);
 		return DROPBEAR_FAILURE;
 	}
+#endif
 
 	TRACE(("shell is %s", ses.authstate.pw->pw_shell))
 
diff -uarN dropbear-0.50.orig/svr-authpasswd.c dropbear-0.50/svr-authpasswd.c
--- dropbear-0.50.orig/svr-authpasswd.c	2007-08-08 17:39:37.000000000 +0200
+++ dropbear-0.50/svr-authpasswd.c	2008-02-01 00:23:00.000000000 +0100
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
 	passwdcrypt = DEBUG_HACKCRYPT;
 #endif
 
+#ifndef DISABLE_SVR_EMPTY_PASSWD_CHECK
 	/* check for empty password - need to do this again here
 	 * since the shadow password may differ to that tested
 	 * in auth.c */
@@ -69,6 +70,7 @@
 		send_msg_userauth_failure(0, 1);
 		return;
 	}
+#endif
 
 	/* check if client wants to change password */
 	changepw = buf_getbool(ses.payload);