diff --git a/lib/core/option.py b/lib/core/option.py
index 7a3059660..af58a1113 100644
--- a/lib/core/option.py
+++ b/lib/core/option.py
@@ -2447,6 +2447,13 @@ def _basicOptionValidation():
             errMsg = "invalid regular expression '%s' ('%s')" % (conf.regexp, getSafeExString(ex))
             raise SqlmapSyntaxException(errMsg)
 
+    if conf.paramExclude:
+        try:
+            re.compile(conf.paramExclude)
+        except Exception as ex:
+            errMsg = "invalid regular expression '%s' ('%s')" % (conf.paramExclude, getSafeExString(ex))
+            raise SqlmapSyntaxException(errMsg)
+
     if conf.crawlExclude:
         try:
             re.compile(conf.crawlExclude)
diff --git a/lib/core/settings.py b/lib/core/settings.py
index 66f933be9..0984aacf7 100644
--- a/lib/core/settings.py
+++ b/lib/core/settings.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from lib.core.enums import OS
 from thirdparty.six import unichr as _unichr
 
 # sqlmap version (<major>.<minor>.<month>.<monthly commit>)
-VERSION = "1.3.9.15"
+VERSION = "1.3.9.16"
 TYPE = "dev" if VERSION.count('.') > 2 and VERSION.split('.')[-1] != '0' else "stable"
 TYPE_COLORS = {"dev": 33, "stable": 90, "pip": 34}
 VERSION_STRING = "sqlmap/%s#%s" % ('.'.join(VERSION.split('.')[:-1]) if VERSION.count('.') > 2 and VERSION.split('.')[-1] == '0' else VERSION, TYPE)