diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index b9a932aa50..c8475746be 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 Changes in version 0.2.1.12-alpha - 2009-02-??
+  o Major bugfixes:
+    - Fix an infinite-loop bug on handling corrupt votes under certain
+      circumstances.  Bugfix on 0.2.0.8-alpha.
+
   o Minor bugfixes:
     - Let controllers actually ask for the "clients_seen" event. Bugfix
       on 0.2.1.10-alpha; reported by Matt Edman.
diff --git a/src/or/routerparse.c b/src/or/routerparse.c
index b2df638874..71f9f9c193 100644
--- a/src/or/routerparse.c
+++ b/src/or/routerparse.c
@@ -2167,6 +2167,9 @@ networkstatus_parse_vote_from_string(const char *s, const char **eos_out,
   memarea_t *area = NULL, *rs_area = NULL;
   tor_assert(s);
 
+  if (eos_out)
+    *eos_out = NULL;
+
   if (router_get_networkstatus_v3_hash(s, ns_digest)) {
     log_warn(LD_DIR, "Unable to compute digest of network-status");
     goto err;