diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/kernel.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/kernel.bbclass
index a76aaee5ba..7c1cb0ec77 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/kernel.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/kernel.bbclass
@@ -44,9 +44,9 @@ INITRAMFS_MULTICONFIG ?= ""
 # number and cause kernel to be rebuilt. To avoid this, make
 # KERNEL_VERSION_NAME and KERNEL_VERSION_PKG_NAME depend on
 # LINUX_VERSION which is a constant.
-KERNEL_VERSION_NAME = "${@d.getVar('KERNEL_VERSION') or ""}"
+KERNEL_VERSION_NAME = "${@d.getVar('KERNEL_VERSION') or 'None'}"
 KERNEL_VERSION_NAME[vardepvalue] = "${LINUX_VERSION}"
-KERNEL_VERSION_PKG_NAME = "${@legitimize_package_name(d.getVar('KERNEL_VERSION'))}"
+KERNEL_VERSION_PKG_NAME = "${@legitimize_package_name(d.getVar('KERNEL_VERSION') or 'None')}"
 KERNEL_VERSION_PKG_NAME[vardepvalue] = "${LINUX_VERSION}"
 
 python __anonymous () {