diff --git a/lib/core/convert.py b/lib/core/convert.py
index e13070ab7..6ebb54c71 100644
--- a/lib/core/convert.py
+++ b/lib/core/convert.py
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ def safecharencode(value):
         for char in SAFE_ENCODE_SLASH_REPLACEMENTS:
             retVal = retVal.replace(char, repr(char).strip('\''))
 
-        retVal = reduce(lambda x, y: x + (y if (y in string.printable or ord(y) > 255) else '\%02x' % ord(y)), retVal, unicode())
+        retVal = reduce(lambda x, y: x + (y if (y in string.printable or ord(y) > 255) else '\\x%02x' % ord(y)), retVal, unicode())
 
     elif isinstance(value, list):
         for i in xrange(len(value)):
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ def safechardecode(value):
         while True:
             match = regex.search(retVal)
             if match:
-                retVal = retVal.replace(match.group("result"), binascii.unhexlify(match.group("result").lstrip('\\')))
+                retVal = retVal.replace(match.group("result"), binascii.unhexlify(match.group("result").lstrip('\\x')))
             else:
                 break
 
diff --git a/lib/core/settings.py b/lib/core/settings.py
index b217d1f95..8d221e62d 100644
--- a/lib/core/settings.py
+++ b/lib/core/settings.py
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ MAX_INT = sys.maxint
 IGNORE_PARAMETERS = ("__VIEWSTATE", "__EVENTARGUMENT", "__EVENTTARGET", "__EVENTVALIDATION", "ASPSESSIONID", "ASP.NET_SESSIONID", "JSESSIONID", "CFID", "CFTOKEN")
 
 # Regex used for recognition of hex encoded characters
-HEX_ENCODED_CHAR_REGEX = r"(?P<result>\\[0-9A-Fa-f]{2})"
+HEX_ENCODED_CHAR_REGEX = r"(?P<result>\\x[0-9A-Fa-f]{2})"
 
 # Raw chars that will be safe encoded to their slash (\) representations (e.g. newline to \n)
 SAFE_ENCODE_SLASH_REPLACEMENTS = "\\\t\n\r\x0b\x0c"