diff --git a/lib/core/common.py b/lib/core/common.py
index 4567b10a1..cd64c5694 100644
--- a/lib/core/common.py
+++ b/lib/core/common.py
@@ -3900,9 +3900,18 @@ def normalizeUnicode(value):
 
     >>> normalizeUnicode(u'\u0161u\u0107uraj') == u'sucuraj'
     True
+    >>> normalizeUnicode(getUnicode(codecs.decode("666f6f00626172", "hex"))) == u'foobar'
+    True
     """
 
-    return getUnicode(unicodedata.normalize("NFKD", value).encode("ascii", "ignore")) if isinstance(value, six.text_type) else value
+    retVal = value
+
+    if isinstance(value, six.text_type):
+        charset = string.printable[:string.printable.find(' ') + 1]
+        retVal = unicodedata.normalize("NFKD", value)
+        retVal = "".join(_ for _ in retVal if _ in charset)
+
+    return retVal
 
 def safeSQLIdentificatorNaming(name, isTable=False):
     """
diff --git a/lib/core/settings.py b/lib/core/settings.py
index 0c65a3e99..b2b69afa2 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 = "1.3.5.97"
+VERSION = "1.3.5.98"
 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)