diff --git a/avocado/core/xunit.py b/avocado/core/xunit.py
index e1dd7e82326dfe5fb4810281125e2798f7f3d27e..2d850296495f4a5519a3bcb81461d7843574928d 100644
--- a/avocado/core/xunit.py
+++ b/avocado/core/xunit.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 import datetime
 import logging
+import string
 from xml.sax.saxutils import quoteattr
 
 from .result import TestResult
@@ -24,6 +25,9 @@ from .result import TestResult
 # We use a subset of the XML format defined in this URL:
 # https://svn.jenkins-ci.org/trunk/hudson/dtkit/dtkit-format/dtkit-junit-model/src/main/resources/com/thalesgroup/dtkit/junit/model/xsd/junit-4.xsd
 
+PRINTABLE = string.ascii_letters + string.digits + string.punctuation + '\n\r '
+
+
 class XmlResult(object):
 
     """
@@ -34,16 +38,14 @@ class XmlResult(object):
         self.xml = ['<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>']
 
     def _escape_attr(self, attrib):
+        attrib = ''.join(_ if _ in PRINTABLE else "\\x%02x" % ord(_)
+                         for _ in str(attrib))
         return quoteattr(attrib)
 
     def _escape_cdata(self, cdata):
-        try:
-            return cdata.replace(']]>', ']]>]]&gt;<![CDATA[')
-        except AttributeError:
-            try:
-                str(cdata).replace(']]>', ']]>]]&gt;<![CDATA[')
-            except TypeError:
-                return 'ERROR: UnparsableObject'
+        cdata = ''.join(_ if _ in PRINTABLE else "\\x%02x" % ord(_)
+                        for _ in str(cdata))
+        return cdata.replace(']]>', ']]>]]&gt;<![CDATA[')
 
     def get_contents(self):
         return '\n'.join(self.xml)
diff --git a/selftests/functional/test_output.py b/selftests/functional/test_output.py
index 9c14dd2241414b97c3d01b1c7b6af5579f5f2a0d..62ca43924a8f6e26bfdd2634e029dcce23fd007e 100644
--- a/selftests/functional/test_output.py
+++ b/selftests/functional/test_output.py
@@ -63,7 +63,11 @@ class OutputPluginTest(unittest.TestCase):
             json.load(fp)
         xunit_output = os.path.join(base_dir, 'results.xml')
         self.assertTrue(os.path.isfile(json_output))
-        minidom.parse(xunit_output)
+        try:
+            minidom.parse(xunit_output)
+        except Exception, details:
+            raise AssertionError("Unable to parse xunit output: %s\n\n%s"
+                                 % (details, open(xunit_output).read()))
 
     def test_output_incompatible_setup(self):
         os.chdir(basedir)
@@ -198,6 +202,25 @@ class OutputPluginTest(unittest.TestCase):
             except OSError:
                 pass
 
+    def test_nonprintable_chars(self):
+        cmd_line = ("./scripts/avocado run '/bin/ls "
+                    "NON_EXISTING_FILE_WITH_NONPRINTABLE_CHARS_IN_HERE\x1b' "
+                    "--job-results-dir %s --sysinfo=off" % self.tmpdir)
+        result = process.run(cmd_line, ignore_status=True)
+        output = result.stdout + result.stderr
+        expected_rc = exit_codes.AVOCADO_TESTS_FAIL
+        self.assertEqual(result.exit_status, expected_rc,
+                         "Avocado did not return rc %d:\n%s" %
+                         (expected_rc, result))
+        debug_log = None
+        for line in output.splitlines():
+            if "JOB LOG" in line:
+                debug_log = line.split(':', 1)[-1].strip()
+                break
+        self.assertTrue(debug_log, "Unable to get JOB LOG from output:\n%s"
+                        % output)
+        self.check_output_files(debug_log)
+
     def test_show_job_log(self):
         os.chdir(basedir)
         cmd_line = './scripts/avocado run --job-results-dir %s --sysinfo=off passtest --show-job-log' % self.tmpdir