diff --git a/package/skeleton-common/skeleton-common.mk b/package/skeleton-common/skeleton-common.mk
index 07c434c07a..06e59c03df 100644
--- a/package/skeleton-common/skeleton-common.mk
+++ b/package/skeleton-common/skeleton-common.mk
@@ -62,20 +62,18 @@ SKELETON_COMMON_TARGET_FINALIZE_HOOKS += SKELETON_COMMON_SET_ISSUE
 endif
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_TARGET_ENABLE_ROOT_LOGIN),y)
-ifeq ($(SKELETON_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWD),)
-SKELETON_ROOT_PASSWORD =
-else ifneq ($(filter $$1$$% $$5$$% $$6$$%,$(SKELETON_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWD)),)
-SKELETON_ROOT_PASSWORD = '$(SKELETON_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWD)'
-else
+ifneq ($(filter $$1$$% $$5$$% $$6$$%,$(SKELETON_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWD)),)
+SKELETON_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWORD = '$(SKELETON_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWD)'
+else ifneq ($(SKELETON_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWD),)
 # This variable will only be evaluated in the finalize stage, so we can
 # be sure that host-mkpasswd will have already been built by that time.
-SKELETON_ROOT_PASSWORD = "`$(MKPASSWD) -m "$(SKELETON_COMMON_PASSWD_METHOD)" "$(SKELETON_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWD)"`"
+SKELETON_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWORD = "`$(MKPASSWD) -m "$(SKELETON_COMMON_PASSWD_METHOD)" "$(SKELETON_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWD)"`"
 endif
 else # !BR2_TARGET_ENABLE_ROOT_LOGIN
-SKELETON_ROOT_PASSWORD = "*"
+SKELETON_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWORD = "*"
 endif
 define SKELETON_COMMON_SET_ROOT_PASSWD
-	$(SED) s,^root:[^:]*:,root:$(SKELETON_ROOT_PASSWORD):, $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/shadow
+	$(SED) s,^root:[^:]*:,root:$(SKELETON_COMMON_ROOT_PASSWORD):, $(TARGET_DIR)/etc/shadow
 endef
 SKELETON_COMMON_TARGET_FINALIZE_HOOKS += SKELETON_COMMON_SET_ROOT_PASSWD