diff --git a/libretroshare/src/serialiser/rstlvbase.cc b/libretroshare/src/serialiser/rstlvbase.cc
index 2f64ffff3..d407edd62 100644
--- a/libretroshare/src/serialiser/rstlvbase.cc
+++ b/libretroshare/src/serialiser/rstlvbase.cc
@@ -449,7 +449,11 @@ bool GetTlvString(void *data, uint32_t size, uint32_t *offset,
 
 	char *strdata = (char *) right_shift_void_pointer(tlvstart, TLV_HEADER_SIZE);
 	uint16_t strsize = tlvsize - TLV_HEADER_SIZE; /* remove the header */
-	in = std::string(strdata, strsize);
+        if (strsize <= 0) {
+            in = "";
+        } else {
+            in = std::string(strdata, strsize);
+        }
 
 	*offset += tlvsize; /* step along */
 	return true;