diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 8a1786a..2a95b7f 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Changelog for hydra
 
 Release 8.7-dev
 * New web page: https://github.com/vanhauser-thc/thc-hydra
+* ldap: fixed a dumb strlen on a potential null pointer
 * http-get/http-post:
    - now supports H=/h= parameters same as http-form (thanks to mathewmarcus@github for the patch)
    - 403/404 errors are now always registered as failed attempts
diff --git a/hydra-ldap.c b/hydra-ldap.c
index ff90d2e..e00265e 100644
--- a/hydra-ldap.c
+++ b/hydra-ldap.c
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ int32_t service_ldap_init(char *ip, int32_t sp, unsigned char options, char *mis
   // return codes:
   //   0 all OK
   //   -1  error, hydra will exit, so print a good error message here
-  if (strlen(miscptr) > 220) {
+  if (miscptr != NULL && strlen(miscptr) > 220) {
     fprintf(stderr, "[ERROR] the option string to this module may not be larger than 220 bytes\n");
     return -1;
   }