diff --git a/mercurial/destutil.py b/mercurial/destutil.py
--- a/mercurial/destutil.py
+++ b/mercurial/destutil.py
@@ -381,6 +381,8 @@
         revs = stack.getstack(repo)
     elif default:
         revs = scmutil.revrange(repo, [default])
+    else:
+        raise error.Abort(_("config option histedit.defaultrev can't be empty"))
 
     if revs:
         # Take the first revision of the revset as the root
diff --git a/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t b/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t
--- a/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t
+++ b/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t
@@ -112,6 +112,13 @@
   > pick 08d98a8350f3 4 five
   > EOF
 
+Test invalid config default
+---------------------------
+
+  $ hg histedit --config "histedit.defaultrev="
+  abort: config option histedit.defaultrev can't be empty
+  [255]
+
 Run on a revision not descendants of the initial parent
 --------------------------------------------------------------------