diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 837e6f67d..bf20e61d1 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -452,7 +452,7 @@ check-nsock:
 check-zenmap:
 	@cd $(ZENMAPDIR)/test && $(PYTHON) run_tests.py
 
-check-nmap: tests/nmap_dns_test tests/expr_match_test
+check-nmap: tests/nmap_dns_test tests/expr_match_test tests/cstring_unescape_test
 	for test in $^; do ./$$test; done
 
 check: @NCAT_CHECK@ @NSOCK_CHECK@ @ZENMAP_CHECK@ @NSE_CHECK@ @NDIFF_CHECK@ check-nmap
diff --git a/tests/cstring_unescape_test.cc b/tests/cstring_unescape_test.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f4201d46d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cstring_unescape_test.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+#include <iostream>
+#include <cstdlib>
+#include <cstring>
+#include <cassert>
+#include "../utils.h"
+#include "../output.h"
+
+struct unescape_test {
+  const char *src;
+  const char *result;
+  unsigned int len;
+  bool valid;
+};
+// All chars except '\0' and '\\'
+static const char allchars[] =
+  "\x01\x02\x03\x04\x05\x06\x07\x08\t\n\x0b\x0c\r\x0e\x0f"
+  "\x10\x11\x12\x13\x14\x15\x16\x17\x18\x19\x1a\x1b\x1c\x1d\x1e\x1f"
+  "!\"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[]^_`"
+  "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~\x7f"
+  "\x80\x81\x82\x83\x84\x85\x86\x87\x88\x89\x8a\x8b\x8c\x8d\x8e\x8f"
+  "\x90\x91\x92\x93\x94\x95\x96\x97\x98\x99\x9a\x9b\x9c\x9d\x9e\x9f"
+  "\xa0\xa1\xa2\xa3\xa4\xa5\xa6\xa7\xa8\xa9\xaa\xab\xac\xad\xae\xaf"
+  "\xb0\xb1\xb2\xb3\xb4\xb5\xb6\xb7\xb8\xb9\xba\xbb\xbc\xbd\xbe\xbf"
+  "\xc0\xc1\xc2\xc3\xc4\xc5\xc6\xc7\xc8\xc9\xca\xcb\xcc\xcd\xce\xcf"
+  "\xd0\xd1\xd2\xd3\xd4\xd5\xd6\xd7\xd8\xd9\xda\xdb\xdc\xdd\xde\xdf"
+  "\xe0\xe1\xe2\xe3\xe4\xe5\xe6\xe7\xe8\xe9\xea\xeb\xec\xed\xee\xef"
+  "\xf0\xf1\xf2\xf3\xf4\xf5\xf6\xf7\xf8\xf9\xfa\xfb\xfc\xfd\xfe\xff";
+static const char *escaped_allchars = strdup(protect_xml(allchars).c_str());
+const struct unescape_test tests[] = {
+  {"", "", 0, true},
+  {"test", "test", 4, true},
+  {"\\0\\n\\r\\t\\x33\\\\", "\0\n\r\t3\\", 6, true},
+  {"test\\0", "test\0", 5, true},
+  {"\\0test", "\0test", 5, true},
+  {"test\\0more", "test\0more", 9, true},
+  {"\\012", "\0""12", 3, true},
+  {"\x20test", " test", 5, true},
+  {"\\r\\ntest", "\r\ntest", 6, true},
+  {"\\", "", 0, false},
+  {"test\\", "", 0, false},
+  {"\\\\n", "\\n", 2, true},
+  {"\\\\x41", "\\x41", 4, true},
+  {"\\\\\\x41", "\\A", 2, true},
+  {"\\a", "", 0, false},
+  {"\\b", "", 0, false},
+  {"\\\xff", "", 0, false},
+  {"\xff\b", "\xff\b", 2, true},
+  {"\\x0041", "\0""41", 3, true},
+  {"\\xFe", "\xfe", 1, true},
+  {"\\xeD", "\xed", 1, true},
+  {"\\x0g", "", 0, false},
+  {"\\x", "", 0, false},
+  {"\\xn", "", 0, false},
+  {"\\xF", "", 0, false},
+  {"\\xFn", "", 0, false},
+  {"\\xFFFF", "\xff""FF", 3, true},
+  {"\\x\\0", "", 0, false},
+  {"\\xF\\0", "", 0, false},
+  {allchars, allchars, sizeof(allchars) - 1, true},
+  {escaped_allchars, allchars, sizeof(allchars) - 1, true},
+};
+
+int main(int argc, char **argv)
+{
+  size_t num_tests = sizeof(tests) / sizeof(unescape_test);
+  size_t num_fail = 0;
+  size_t num_run = 0;
+  for (size_t i=0; i < num_tests; i++) {
+    const unescape_test &test = tests[i];
+    char *src = strdup(test.src);
+    if (!src)
+      exit(1);
+    unsigned int len = 0;
+    std::cout << i << '\r';
+    num_run++;
+    if (cstring_unescape(src, &len)) {
+      if (!test.valid) {
+        std::cout << "FAIL test " << i << ": " << test.src <<
+          "not rejected" << std::endl;
+        num_fail++;
+      }
+      else if ( len != test.len) {
+        std::cout << "FAIL test " << i << " length: expected " << test.len <<
+          " but got " << len << std::endl;
+        num_fail++;
+      }
+      else {
+        int r = memcmp(src, test.result, test.len);
+        if (r != 0) {
+          std::cout << "FAIL test " << i << ": memcmp returned " << r << std::endl;
+          num_fail++;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    else if (test.valid) {
+      std::cout << "FAIL test " << i << ": " << test.src <<
+        "rejected" << std::endl;
+      num_fail++;
+    }
+    free(src);
+  }
+  std::cout << "Ran " << num_run << " tests. " << num_fail << " failures." << std::endl;
+  return num_fail;
+}
diff --git a/utils.cc b/utils.cc
index 4494021cf..c8f6c203b 100644
--- a/utils.cc
+++ b/utils.cc
@@ -316,24 +316,33 @@ void arg_parse_free(char **argv) {
 }
 
 /* A simple function to form a character from 2 hex digits in ASCII form. */
-static unsigned char hex2char(unsigned char a, unsigned char b) {
-  int val;
+static bool hex2char(char *src, unsigned char *dst) {
+  int val = 0;
 
-  if (!isxdigit((int) a) || !isxdigit((int) b))
-    return 0;
-  a = tolower((int) a);
-  b = tolower((int) b);
-  if (isdigit((int) a))
-    val = (a - '0') << 4;
-  else
-    val = (10 + (a - 'a')) << 4;
+  if (!isxdigit((int)src[0]) || !isxdigit((int)src[1]))
+    return false;
 
-  if (isdigit((int) b))
-    val += (b - '0');
-  else
-    val += 10 + (b - 'a');
+  int hex = src[0];
+  if (hex < 'A') {
+    val = (hex - '0') << 4;
+  }
+  else {
+    hex = tolower(hex);
+    val = (hex + 10 - 'a') << 4;
+  }
 
-  return (unsigned char) val;
+  hex = src[1];
+  if (hex < 'A') {
+    val += (hex - '0');
+  }
+  else {
+    hex = tolower(hex);
+    val += hex + 10 - 'a';
+  }
+
+  assert(val >= 0 && val <= UCHAR_MAX);
+  *dst = (unsigned char) val;
+  return true;
 }
 
 /* Convert a string in the format of a roughly C-style string literal
@@ -343,70 +352,45 @@ static unsigned char hex2char(unsigned char a, unsigned char b) {
    str is returned. */
 char *cstring_unescape(char *str, unsigned int *newlen) {
   char *dst = str, *src = str;
-  char newchar;
+  unsigned char newchar;
 
   while (*src) {
     if (*src == '\\' ) {
       src++;
+      /* Other escapes are not used for service Probe lines */
       switch (*src) {
-      case '\0':
-        return NULL;
-        break;
-      case '0':
-        newchar = '\0';
-        src++;
-        break;
-      case 'a': // Bell (BEL)
-        newchar = '\a';
-        src++;
-        break;
-      case 'b': // Backspace (BS)
-        newchar = '\b';
-        src++;
-        break;
-      case 'f': // Formfeed (FF)
-        newchar = '\f';
-        src++;
-        break;
-      case 'n': // Linefeed/Newline (LF)
-        newchar = '\n';
-        src++;
-        break;
-      case 'r': // Carriage Return (CR)
-        newchar = '\r';
-        src++;
-        break;
-      case 't': // Horizontal Tab (TAB)
-        newchar = '\t';
-        src++;
-        break;
-      case 'v': // Vertical Tab (VT)
-        newchar = '\v';
-        src++;
-        break;
-      case 'x':
-        src++;
-        if (!*src || !*(src + 1)) return NULL;
-        if (!isxdigit((int) (unsigned char) *src) || !isxdigit((int) (unsigned char) * (src + 1))) return NULL;
-        newchar = hex2char(*src, *(src + 1));
-        src += 2;
-        break;
-      default:
-        if (isalnum((int) (unsigned char) *src))
-          return NULL; // I don't really feel like supporting octals such as \015
-        // Other characters I'll just copy as is
-        newchar = *src;
-        src++;
-        break;
+        case '\\':
+          newchar = '\\';
+          break;
+        case '0':
+          newchar = '\0';
+          break;
+        case 'n': // Linefeed/Newline (LF)
+          newchar = '\n';
+          break;
+        case 'r': // Carriage Return (CR)
+          newchar = '\r';
+          break;
+        case 't': // Horizontal Tab (TAB)
+          newchar = '\t';
+          break;
+        case 'x': // \x__
+          src++;  // \x*_
+          if (!hex2char(src, &newchar))
+            return NULL;
+          src++;  // \x_*
+          break;
+        default:
+          // We'll be really strict. Only the above are supported
+          return NULL;
+          break;
       }
-      *dst = newchar;
-      dst++;
     } else {
-      if (dst != src)
-        *dst = *src;
-      dst++;
-      src++;
+      newchar = *src;
     }
+    *dst = newchar;
+    dst++;
+    src++;
   }
   *dst = '\0'; // terminated, but this string can include other \0, so use newlen
   if (newlen)