diff --git a/lib/core/settings.py b/lib/core/settings.py
index b0e53c77a..626ab6eb3 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 = "1.4.5.16"
+VERSION = "1.4.5.17"
 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/search.py b/lib/utils/search.py
index f11a9ab3b..4acf8eea6 100644
--- a/lib/utils/search.py
+++ b/lib/utils/search.py
@@ -104,6 +104,8 @@ def _search(dork):
 
     page = decodePage(page, responseHeaders.get(HTTP_HEADER.CONTENT_ENCODING), responseHeaders.get(HTTP_HEADER.CONTENT_TYPE))
 
+    page = getUnicode(page)  # Note: if upper function call fails (Issue #4202)
+
     retVal = [_urllib.parse.unquote(match.group(1) or match.group(2)) for match in re.finditer(GOOGLE_REGEX, page, re.I)]
 
     if not retVal and "detected unusual traffic" in page: