diff --git a/molecule/shared/prerequisites.yml b/molecule/shared/prerequisites.yml
index bd6292b82..89fac4a88 100644
--- a/molecule/shared/prerequisites.yml
+++ b/molecule/shared/prerequisites.yml
@@ -5,5 +5,5 @@
     - name: Make sure environment variable for MOLECULE_DISTRO is set
       ansible.builtin.assert:
         that:
-          - "lookup('env','MOLECULE_DISTRO')"
+          - "lookup('env','MOLECULE_DISTRO') | length > 0"
         fail_msg: "You need to set MOLECULE_DISTRO to a supported image name. See CONTRIBUTING.md"
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index d7c974a36..4ca413e56 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 molecule==25.1.0
 molecule-plugins[docker]==23.7.0
-ansible-core==2.18.6
+ansible-core==2.19.0
 docker==7.1.0
 jmespath==1.0.1
 aar-doc==2.2.0