diff --git a/management/server/migration/migration.go b/management/server/migration/migration.go
index 9776418ad6b..8a2d4219ec4 100644
--- a/management/server/migration/migration.go
+++ b/management/server/migration/migration.go
@@ -35,8 +35,8 @@ func MigrateFieldFromGobToJSON[T any, S any](db *gorm.DB, fieldName string) erro
 	}
 	tableName := stmt.Schema.Table
 
-	var item string
-	if err := db.Model(model).Select(oldColumnName).First(&item).Error; err != nil {
+	var sqliteItem sql.NullString
+	if err := db.Model(model).Select(oldColumnName).First(&sqliteItem).Error; err != nil {
 		if errors.Is(err, gorm.ErrRecordNotFound) {
 			log.Debugf("No records in table %s, no migration needed", tableName)
 			return nil
@@ -44,10 +44,13 @@ func MigrateFieldFromGobToJSON[T any, S any](db *gorm.DB, fieldName string) erro
 		return fmt.Errorf("fetch first record: %w", err)
 	}
 
+	item := sqliteItem.String
+
 	var js json.RawMessage
 	var syntaxError *json.SyntaxError
 	err = json.Unmarshal([]byte(item), &js)
-	if err == nil || !errors.As(err, &syntaxError) {
+	// if the item is JSON parsable or an empty string it can not be gob encoded
+	if err == nil || !errors.As(err, &syntaxError) || item == "" {
 		log.Debugf("No migration needed for %s, %s", tableName, fieldName)
 		return nil
 	}
@@ -74,7 +77,6 @@ func MigrateFieldFromGobToJSON[T any, S any](db *gorm.DB, fieldName string) erro
 			if err := gob.NewDecoder(reader).Decode(&field); err != nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("gob decode error: %w", err)
 			}
-
 			jsonValue, err := json.Marshal(field)
 			if err != nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("re-encode to JSON: %w", err)
diff --git a/management/server/sql_store_test.go b/management/server/sql_store_test.go
index fc27439863c..a411952063b 100644
--- a/management/server/sql_store_test.go
+++ b/management/server/sql_store_test.go
@@ -559,6 +559,7 @@ func TestMigrate(t *testing.T) {
 	rt := &route{
 		Network:    prefix,
 		PeerGroups: []string{"group1", "group2"},
+		Route:      route2.Route{ID: "route1"},
 	}
 
 	err = store.db.Save(rt).Error
@@ -569,6 +570,26 @@ func TestMigrate(t *testing.T) {
 
 	err = migrate(store.db)
 	require.NoError(t, err, "Migration should not fail on migrated db")
+
+	err = store.db.Delete(rt).Where("id = ?", "route1").Error
+	require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to delete Gob data")
+
+	prefix = netip.MustParsePrefix("12.0.0.0/24")
+	nRT := &route2.Route{
+		Network: prefix,
+		ID:      "route2",
+		Peer:    "peer-id",
+	}
+
+	err = store.db.Save(nRT).Error
+	require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to insert json nil slice data")
+
+	err = migrate(store.db)
+	require.NoError(t, err, "Migration should not fail on json nil slice populated db")
+
+	err = migrate(store.db)
+	require.NoError(t, err, "Migration should not fail on migrated db")
+
 }
 
 func newSqliteStore(t *testing.T) *SqlStore {