diff --git a/src/core/base16.c b/src/core/base16.c
index 7fa4b200..2544bd7f 100644
--- a/src/core/base16.c
+++ b/src/core/base16.c
@@ -51,10 +51,14 @@ void base16_encode ( const uint8_t *raw, size_t len, char *encoded ) {
 	char *encoded_bytes = encoded;
 	size_t remaining = len;
 
+	/* Encode each byte */
 	for ( ; remaining-- ; encoded_bytes += 2 ) {
 		sprintf ( encoded_bytes, "%02x", *(raw_bytes++) );
 	}
 
+	/* Ensure terminating NUL exists even if length was zero */
+	*encoded_bytes = '\0';
+
 	DBG ( "Base16-encoded to \"%s\":\n", encoded );
 	DBG_HDA ( 0, raw, len );
 	assert ( strlen ( encoded ) == base16_encoded_len ( len ) );