diff --git a/include/znc/ZNCString.h b/include/znc/ZNCString.h
index 546701b7..4942fa11 100644
--- a/include/znc/ZNCString.h
+++ b/include/znc/ZNCString.h
@@ -77,7 +77,8 @@ public:
 		EHTML,
 		ESQL,
 		ENAMEDFMT,
-		EDEBUG
+		EDEBUG,
+		EMSGTAG
 	} EEscape;
 
 	static const CaseSensitivity CaseSensitive = CaseSensitivity::CaseSensitive;
diff --git a/src/Utils.cpp b/src/Utils.cpp
index 580a725a..a03c9c70 100644
--- a/src/Utils.cpp
+++ b/src/Utils.cpp
@@ -484,7 +484,9 @@ MCString CUtils::GetMessageTags(const CString& sLine) {
 
 		MCString mssTags;
 		for (VCString::const_iterator it = vsTags.begin(); it != vsTags.end(); ++it) {
-			mssTags[it->Token(0, false, "=", true)] = it->Token(1, true, "=", true);
+			CString sKey = it->Token(0, false, "=", true);
+			CString sValue = it->Token(1, true, "=", true);
+			mssTags[sKey] = sValue.Escape(CString::EMSGTAG, CString::CString::EASCII);
 		}
 		return mssTags;
 	}
@@ -502,7 +504,9 @@ void CUtils::SetMessageTags(CString& sLine, const MCString& mssTags) {
 			if (!sTags.empty()) {
 				sTags += ";";
 			}
-			sTags += it->first + "=" + it->second;
+			sTags += it->first;
+			if (!it->second.empty())
+				sTags += "=" + it->second.Escape_n(CString::EMSGTAG);
 		}
 		sLine = "@" + sTags + " " + sLine;
 	}
diff --git a/src/ZNCString.cpp b/src/ZNCString.cpp
index c6b7bfe8..e8ce010f 100644
--- a/src/ZNCString.cpp
+++ b/src/ZNCString.cpp
@@ -182,6 +182,8 @@ CString::EEscape CString::ToEscape(const CString& sEsc) {
 		return ENAMEDFMT;
 	} else if (sEsc.Equals("DEBUG")) {
 		return EDEBUG;
+	} else if (sEsc.Equals("MSGTAG")) {
+		return EMSGTAG;
 	}
 
 	return EASCII;
@@ -322,6 +324,33 @@ CString CString::Escape_n(EEscape eFrom, EEscape eTo) const {
 				} else {
 					ch = *p;
 				}
+
+				break;
+			case EMSGTAG:
+				if (*p != '\\' || iLength < (a +1)) {
+					ch = *p;
+				} else {
+					a++;
+					p++;
+
+					if (*p == ':') {
+						ch = ';';
+					} else if (*p == 's') {
+						ch = ' ';
+					} else if (*p == '0') {
+						ch = '\0';
+					} else if (*p == '\\') {
+						ch = '\\';
+					} else if (*p == 'r') {
+						ch = '\r';
+					} else if (*p == 'n') {
+						ch = '\n';
+					} else {
+						ch = *p;
+					}
+				}
+
+				break;
 		}
 
 		switch (eTo) {
@@ -380,6 +409,16 @@ CString CString::Escape_n(EEscape eFrom, EEscape eTo) const {
 					sRet += ch;
 				}
 
+				break;
+			case EMSGTAG:
+				if (ch == ';') { sRet += '\\'; sRet += ':';
+				} else if (ch == ' ') { sRet += '\\'; sRet += 's';
+				} else if (ch == '\0') { sRet += '\\'; sRet += '0';
+				} else if (ch == '\\') { sRet += '\\'; sRet += '\\';
+				} else if (ch == '\r') { sRet += '\\'; sRet += 'r';
+				} else if (ch == '\n') { sRet += '\\'; sRet += 'n';
+				} else { sRet += ch; }
+
 				break;
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/test/StringTest.cpp b/test/StringTest.cpp
index 1c09ee45..fddf9c74 100644
--- a/test/StringTest.cpp
+++ b/test/StringTest.cpp
@@ -38,21 +38,23 @@ protected:
 	}
 
 	void testString(const CString& in, const CString& url,
-			const CString& html, const CString& sql) {
+			const CString& html, const CString& sql, const CString& tag) {
 		SCOPED_TRACE("String: " + in);
 
 		testEncode(in, url,  "URL");
 		testEncode(in, html, "HTML");
 		testEncode(in, sql,  "SQL");
+		testEncode(in, tag,  "MSGTAG");
 	}
 };
 
 TEST_F(EscapeTest, Test) {
-	//          input      url          html             sql
-	testString("abcdefg", "abcdefg",   "abcdefg",       "abcdefg");
-	testString("\n\t\r",  "%0A%09%0D", "\n\t\r",        "\\n\\t\\r");
-	testString("'\"",     "%27%22",    "'&quot;",       "\\'\\\"");
-	testString("&<>",     "%26%3C%3E", "&amp;&lt;&gt;", "&<>");
+	//          input     url          html             sql         msgtag
+	testString("abcdefg","abcdefg",   "abcdefg",       "abcdefg",   "abcdefg");
+	testString("\n\t\r", "%0A%09%0D", "\n\t\r",        "\\n\\t\\r", "\\n\t\\r");
+	testString("'\"",    "%27%22",    "'&quot;",       "\\'\\\"",   "'\"");
+	testString("&<>",    "%26%3C%3E", "&amp;&lt;&gt;", "&<>",       "&<>");
+	testString(" ;",     "+%3B",      " ;",            " ;",        "\\s\\:");
 }
 
 TEST(StringTest, Bool) {
diff --git a/test/UtilsTest.cpp b/test/UtilsTest.cpp
index 4f4197bb..9d2f30c5 100644
--- a/test/UtilsTest.cpp
+++ b/test/UtilsTest.cpp
@@ -37,6 +37,25 @@ TEST(IRC32, GetMessageTags) {
 	exp["a"] = "==b==";
 	EXPECT_EQ(exp, CUtils::GetMessageTags("@a===b== :rest"));
 	exp.clear();
+
+	exp["a"] = "";
+	exp["b"] = "c";
+	exp["d"] = "";
+	EXPECT_EQ(exp, CUtils::GetMessageTags("@a;b=c;d :rest"));
+	exp.clear();
+
+	exp["semi-colon"] += ';';
+	exp["space"] += ' ';
+	exp["NUL"] += '\0';
+	exp["backslash"] += '\\';
+	exp["CR"] += '\r';
+	exp["LF"] += '\n';
+	EXPECT_EQ(exp, CUtils::GetMessageTags(R"(@semi-colon=\:;space=\s;NUL=\0;backslash=\\;CR=\r;LF=\n :rest)"));
+	exp.clear();
+
+	exp["a"] = "; \\\r\n";
+	EXPECT_EQ(exp, CUtils::GetMessageTags(R"(@a=\:\s\\\r\n :rest)"));
+	exp.clear();
 }
 
 TEST(IRC32, SetMessageTags) {
@@ -54,5 +73,24 @@ TEST(IRC32, SetMessageTags) {
 	tags["c"] = "d";
 	CUtils::SetMessageTags(sLine, tags);
 	EXPECT_EQ("@a=b;c=d :rest", sLine);
+
+	tags["e"] = "";
+	CUtils::SetMessageTags(sLine, tags);
+	EXPECT_EQ("@a=b;c=d;e :rest", sLine);
+	tags.clear();
+
+	tags["semi-colon"] += ';';
+	tags["space"] += ' ';
+	tags["NUL"] += '\0';
+	tags["backslash"] += '\\';
+	tags["CR"] += '\r';
+	tags["LF"] += '\n';
+	CUtils::SetMessageTags(sLine, tags);
+	EXPECT_EQ(R"(@CR=\r;LF=\n;NUL=\0;backslash=\\;semi-colon=\:;space=\s :rest)", sLine);
+	tags.clear();
+
+	tags["a"] = "; \\\r\n";
+	CUtils::SetMessageTags(sLine, tags);
+	EXPECT_EQ(R"(@a=\:\s\\\r\n :rest)", sLine);
 }