diff --git a/fabric-chaincode-shim/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/fabric/shim/ledger/CompositeKey.java b/fabric-chaincode-shim/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/fabric/shim/ledger/CompositeKey.java
index 4c88c2374..159669c23 100644
--- a/fabric-chaincode-shim/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/fabric/shim/ledger/CompositeKey.java
+++ b/fabric-chaincode-shim/src/main/java/org/hyperledger/fabric/shim/ledger/CompositeKey.java
@@ -76,8 +76,11 @@ public static CompositeKey parseCompositeKey(final String compositeKey) {
             throw CompositeKeyFormatException.forInputString(compositeKey, compositeKey, 0);
         }
         // relying on the fact that NAMESPACE == DELIMETER
-        final String[] segments = compositeKey.split(DELIMITER, 0);
-        return new CompositeKey(segments[1], Arrays.stream(segments).skip(2).toArray(String[]::new));
+        // keep empty segments so that empty attributes are preserved
+        final String[] segments = compositeKey.split(DELIMITER, -1);
+        // the final delimiter terminates the last attribute, so the empty segment after it is not an attribute
+        final int end = compositeKey.endsWith(DELIMITER) ? segments.length - 1 : segments.length;
+        return new CompositeKey(segments[1], Arrays.copyOfRange(segments, 2, Math.max(2, end)));
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/fabric-chaincode-shim/src/test/java/org/hyperledger/fabric/shim/ledger/CompositeKeyTest.java b/fabric-chaincode-shim/src/test/java/org/hyperledger/fabric/shim/ledger/CompositeKeyTest.java
index 21293a01a..fd7679086 100644
--- a/fabric-chaincode-shim/src/test/java/org/hyperledger/fabric/shim/ledger/CompositeKeyTest.java
+++ b/fabric-chaincode-shim/src/test/java/org/hyperledger/fabric/shim/ledger/CompositeKeyTest.java
@@ -105,6 +105,22 @@ void testParseCompositeKey() {
         assertThat(key.toString(), is(equalTo("\u0000abc\u0000def\u0000ghi\u0000jkl\u0000mno\u0000")));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    void testParseCompositeKeyWithEmptyAttributes() {
+        final CompositeKey key = CompositeKey.parseCompositeKey("\u0000abc\u0000\u0000def\u0000\u0000\u0000");
+        assertThat(key.getObjectType(), is(equalTo("abc")));
+        assertThat(key.getAttributes(), contains("", "def", "", ""));
+        assertThat(key.toString(), is(equalTo("\u0000abc\u0000\u0000def\u0000\u0000\u0000")));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void testParseCompositeKeyWithEmptyObjectType() {
+        final CompositeKey key = CompositeKey.parseCompositeKey("\u0000\u0000");
+        assertThat(key.getObjectType(), is(equalTo("")));
+        assertThat(key.getAttributes(), hasSize(0));
+        assertThat(key.toString(), is(equalTo("\u0000\u0000")));
+    }
+
     @Test
     void testParseCompositeKeyInvalidObjectType() {
         assertThatThrownBy(() ->