diff --git a/lib/core/settings.py b/lib/core/settings.py
index 6b9b9a02b..58fe92f29 100644
--- a/lib/core/settings.py
+++ b/lib/core/settings.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ from thirdparty import six
 from thirdparty.six import unichr as _unichr
 
 # sqlmap version (<major>.<minor>.<month>.<monthly commit>)
-VERSION = "1.5.7.0"
+VERSION = "1.5.7.1"
 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)
diff --git a/lib/utils/safe2bin.py b/lib/utils/safe2bin.py
index 6aa57aa4b..3288a0d20 100644
--- a/lib/utils/safe2bin.py
+++ b/lib/utils/safe2bin.py
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ import re
 import string
 import sys
 
-if sys.version_info >= (3, 0):
+PY3 = sys.version_info >= (3, 0)
+
+if PY3:
     xrange = range
     text_type = str
     string_types = (str,)
@@ -92,7 +94,7 @@ def safechardecode(value, binary=False):
 
         if binary:
             if isinstance(retVal, text_type):
-                retVal = retVal.encode("utf8")
+                retVal = retVal.encode("utf8", errors="surrogatepass" if PY3 else "strict")
 
     elif isinstance(value, (list, tuple)):
         for i in xrange(len(value)):