diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 796f664..869fb68 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ Changelog for hydra
 -------------------
 
 Release 9.4-dev
-  * your patch?
+* Switched from pcre/pcre3 to pcre2 as pcre/pcre3 will be dropped from Debian
 
 
 Release 9.3
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 1cde2f1..d9c8b02 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -380,21 +380,21 @@ if [ "X" = "X$CURSES_PATH" -o "X" = "X$CURSES_IPATH" ]; then
     CURSES_IPATH=""
 fi
 
-echo "Checking for pcre (libpcre/pcre.h) ..."
+echo "Checking for pcre2 (libpcre/pcre.h) ..."
 for i in $LIBDIRS ; do
     if [ "X" = "X$PCRE_PATH" ]; then
-        if [ -f "$i/libpcre.so" -o -f "$i/libpcre.dylib" -o -f "$i/libpcre.a"   ]; then
+        if [ -f "$i/libpcre2-8.so" -o -f "$i/libpcre2-8.dylib" -o -f "$i/libpcre2-8.a"   ]; then
             PCRE_PATH="$i"
         fi
     fi
     if [ "X" = "X$PCRE_PATH" ]; then
-        TMP_LIB=`/bin/ls $i/libpcre.so* 2> /dev/null | grep libpcre.`
+        TMP_LIB=`/bin/ls $i/libpcre2*.so* 2> /dev/null | grep libpcre.`
         if [ -n "$TMP_LIB" ]; then
           PCRE_PATH="$i"
         fi
     fi
     if [ "X" = "X$PCRE_PATH" ]; then
-        TMP_LIB=`/bin/ls $i/libpcre.dll* 2> /dev/null | grep libpcre.`
+        TMP_LIB=`/bin/ls $i/libpcre2*.dll* 2> /dev/null | grep libpcre.`
         if [ -n "$TMP_LIB" ]; then
           PCRE_PATH="$i"
         fi
@@ -402,20 +402,20 @@ for i in $LIBDIRS ; do
 done
 for i in $INCDIRS ; do
     if [ "X" != "X$PCRE_PATH" ]; then
-        if [ -f "$i/pcre.h" ]; then
+        if [ -f "$i/pcre2.h" ]; then
             PCRE_IPATH="$i"
         fi
     fi
 done
 if [ "X" != "X$DEBUG" ]; then
    echo DEBUG: PCRE_PATH=$PCRE_PATH/libpcre
-   echo DEBUG: PCRE_IPATH=$PCRE_IPATH/pcre.h
+   echo DEBUG: PCRE_IPATH=$PCRE_IPATH/pcre2.h
 fi
 if [ -n "$PCRE_PATH" -a -n "$PCRE_IPATH" ]; then
-    echo "                                   ... found"
+    echo "                                    ... found"
 fi
 if [ "X" = "X$PCRE_PATH" -o "X" = "X$PCRE_IPATH" ]; then
-    echo "                                   ... NOT found, server response checks will be less reliable"
+    echo "                                    ... NOT found, server response checks will be less reliable"
     PCRE_PATH=""
     PCRE_IPATH=""
 fi
@@ -1649,7 +1649,7 @@ if [ -n "$IDN_PATH" ]; then
     XLIBS="$XLIBS -lidn"
 fi
 if [ -n "$PCRE_PATH" ]; then
-    XLIBS="$XLIBS -lpcre"
+    XLIBS="$XLIBS -lpcre2-8"
 fi
 if [ -n "$MYSQL_PATH" ]; then
     XLIBS="$XLIBS -lmysqlclient"
diff --git a/hydra-mod.c b/hydra-mod.c
index 4d34b2a..a24889b 100644
--- a/hydra-mod.c
+++ b/hydra-mod.c
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@
 #include <openssl/ssl.h>
 #endif
 #ifdef HAVE_PCRE
-#include <pcre.h>
+#define PCRE2_CODE_UNIT_WIDTH 8
+#include <pcre2.h>
 #endif
 
 #define MAX_CONNECT_RETRY 1
@@ -1291,19 +1292,23 @@ void hydra_set_srcport(int32_t port) { src_port = port; }
 
 #ifdef HAVE_PCRE
 int32_t hydra_string_match(char *str, const char *regex) {
-  pcre *re = NULL;
-  int32_t offset_error = 0;
-  const char *error = NULL;
+  pcre2_code *re = NULL;
+  int32_t error_code = 0;
+  PCRE2_SIZE error_offset;
   int32_t rc = 0;
 
-  re = pcre_compile(regex, PCRE_CASELESS | PCRE_DOTALL, &error, &offset_error, NULL);
+  re = pcre2_compile(regex, PCRE2_ZERO_TERMINATED, PCRE2_CASELESS | PCRE2_DOTALL, &error_code, &error_offset, NULL);
   if (re == NULL) {
-    fprintf(stderr, "[ERROR] PCRE compilation failed at offset %d: %s\n", offset_error, error);
+    fprintf(stderr, "[ERROR] PCRE compilation failed at offset %d: %d\n", error_offset, error_code);
     return 0;
   }
 
-  rc = pcre_exec(re, NULL, str, strlen(str), 0, 0, NULL, 0);
-  if (rc >= 0) {
+  pcre2_match_data *match_data = pcre2_match_data_create_from_pattern(re, NULL);
+  rc = pcre2_match(re, str, PCRE2_ZERO_TERMINATED, 0, 0, match_data, NULL);
+  pcre2_match_data_free(match_data);
+  pcre2_code_free(re);
+
+  if (rc >= 1) {
     return 1;
   }
   return 0;