diff --git a/lib/core/settings.py b/lib/core/settings.py
index 45b328280..409e5d11f 100644
--- a/lib/core/settings.py
+++ b/lib/core/settings.py
@@ -233,6 +233,9 @@ EMPTY_FORM_FIELDS_REGEX = r'(?P<result>[^=]+=(&|\Z))'
 # Regular expression for general IP address matching
 GENERAL_IP_ADDRESS_REGEX = r'\A\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\.\d{1,3}\Z'
 
+# Regular expression for soap message recognition
+SOAP_REGEX = r"\A(<\?xml[^>]+>)?\s*<soap.+</soap"
+
 # Reference: http://www.cs.ru.nl/bachelorscripties/2010/Martin_Devillers___0437999___Analyzing_password_strength.pdf
 COMMON_PASSWORD_SUFFIXES = ["1", "123", "2", "12", "3", "13", "7", "11", "5", "22", "23", "01", "4", "07", "21", "14", "10", "06", "08", "8", "15", "69", "16", "6", "18"]
 
diff --git a/lib/core/target.py b/lib/core/target.py
index 70d831fa9..77153cbef 100644
--- a/lib/core/target.py
+++ b/lib/core/target.py
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ from lib.core.option import __setDBMS
 from lib.core.option import __setKnowledgeBaseAttributes
 from lib.core.session import resumeConfKb
 from lib.core.settings import REFERER_ALIASES
+from lib.core.settings import SOAP_REGEX
 from lib.core.settings import UNICODE_ENCODING
 from lib.core.settings import URI_INJECTABLE_REGEX
 from lib.core.settings import URI_INJECTION_MARK_CHAR
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@ def __setRequestParams():
         conf.data = conf.data.replace("\n", " ")
 
         # Check if POST data is in xml syntax
-        if re.match(r"\A\s*<(\?xml|soap)[^>]*>", conf.data, re.I | re.M):
+        if re.match(SOAP_REGEX, conf.data, re.I | re.M):
             place = PLACE.SOAP
         else:
             place = PLACE.POST