diff --git a/lib/events.js b/lib/events.js
index e8fd3bbb79259e..ed447ce704cb6f 100644
--- a/lib/events.js
+++ b/lib/events.js
@@ -784,6 +784,8 @@ function _listeners(target, type, unwrap) {
     return [];
 
   const evlistener = target._events[type];
+  if (evlistener === undefined)
+    return [];
 
   if (typeof evlistener === 'function')
     return unwrap ? [evlistener.listener || evlistener] : [evlistener];
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-event-emitter-listeners.js b/test/parallel/test-event-emitter-listeners.js
index eb1da829c95f21..4a08ad34c273cd 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-event-emitter-listeners.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-event-emitter-listeners.js
@@ -86,6 +86,11 @@ function listener4() {
   assert.deepStrictEqual(ee.listeners('foo'), []);
 }
 
+{
+  const ee = new events.EventEmitter();
+  assert.deepStrictEqual(ee.listeners(), []);
+}
+
 {
   class TestStream extends events.EventEmitter {}
   const s = new TestStream();