diff --git a/lib/core/settings.py b/lib/core/settings.py
index 4d7913b31..b7589c90b 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 = "1.5.1.40"
+VERSION = "1.5.1.41"
 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/core/target.py b/lib/core/target.py
index 484d8b835..69f1fa9f9 100644
--- a/lib/core/target.py
+++ b/lib/core/target.py
@@ -659,7 +659,7 @@ def _createTargetDirs():
 
     try:
         with openFile(os.path.join(conf.outputPath, "target.txt"), "w+") as f:
-            f.write(kb.originalUrls.get(conf.url) or conf.url or conf.hostname)
+            f.write(getUnicode(kb.originalUrls.get(conf.url) or conf.url or conf.hostname))
             f.write(" (%s)" % (HTTPMETHOD.POST if conf.data else HTTPMETHOD.GET))
             f.write("  # %s" % getUnicode(subprocess.list2cmdline(sys.argv), encoding=sys.stdin.encoding))
             if conf.data:
@@ -672,6 +672,9 @@ def _createTargetDirs():
         errMsg += "to write to the output directory '%s' (%s)" % (paths.SQLMAP_OUTPUT_PATH, getSafeExString(ex))
 
         raise SqlmapMissingPrivileges(errMsg)
+    except UnicodeError as ex:
+        warnMsg = "something went wrong while saving target data ('%s')" % getSafeExString(ex)
+        logger.warn(warnMsg)
 
     _createDumpDir()
     _createFilesDir()