diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 7200a99..c0b212a 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2015-05-10  Stuart Caie <kyzer@4u.net>
+
+	* cabd_read_string(): correct rejection of empty strings. Thanks to
+	Hanno Böck for finding the issue and providing a sample file.
+
 2015-01-18  Stuart Caie <kyzer@4u.net>
 
 	* lzxd_decompress(): the byte-alignment code for reading uncompressed
diff --git a/mspack/cabd.c b/mspack/cabd.c
index 445750a..16021ee 100644
--- a/mspack/cabd.c
+++ b/mspack/cabd.c
@@ -526,8 +526,11 @@ static char *cabd_read_string(struct mspack_system *sys,
   /* read up to 256 bytes */
   len = sys->read(fh, &buf[0], 256);
 
-  /* search for a null terminator in the buffer. reject empty strings */
-  for (i = 1, ok = 0; i < len; i++) if (!buf[i]) { ok = 1; break; }
+  /* search for a null terminator in the buffer */
+  for (i = 0, ok = 0; i < len; i++) if (!buf[i]) { ok = 1; break; }
+  /* reject empty strings */
+  if (i == 0) ok = 0;
+
   if (!ok) {
     *error = MSPACK_ERR_DATAFORMAT;
     return NULL;