diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 39703ce..de214a7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [0.33.1] - 2024-11-16
+### Fixed
+- Fixed a panic when opening a device with strings containing null bytes.
+
 ## [0.33.0] - 2024-09-05
 ### Added
 - Added FT240X EEPROM.
@@ -167,7 +171,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ## Prior releases
 A changelog was not kept for prior releases.
 
-[Unreleased]: https://github.com/ftdi-rs/libftd2xx/compare/0.33.0...HEAD
+[Unreleased]: https://github.com/ftdi-rs/libftd2xx/compare/0.33.1...HEAD
+[0.33.1]: https://github.com/ftdi-rs/libftd2xx/compare/0.33.0...0.33.1
 [0.33.0]: https://github.com/ftdi-rs/libftd2xx/compare/0.32.5...0.33.0
 [0.32.5]: https://github.com/ftdi-rs/libftd2xx/compare/0.32.4...0.32.5
 [0.32.4]: https://github.com/ftdi-rs/libftd2xx/compare/0.32.3...0.32.4
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 24714f2..0f30411 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "libftd2xx"
-version = "0.33.0"
+version = "0.33.1"
 authors = ["Alex Martens <alex@thinglab.org>"]
 edition = "2021"
 description = "Rust safe wrapper around the libftd2xx-ffi crate."
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f8e5560..614afeb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Simply add this crate as a dependency in your `Cargo.toml`.
 
 ```toml
 [dependencies.libftd2xx]
-version = "0.33.0"
+version = "0.33.1"
 # statically link the vendor library, defaults to dynamic if not set
 # this will make things "just work" on Linux and Windows
 features = ["static"]
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 837e282..4da51f1 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 //!
 //! ```toml
 //! [dependencies.libftd2xx]
-//! version = "0.33.0"
+//! version = "0.33.1"
 //! # statically link the vendor library, defaults to dynamic if not set
 //! # this will make things "just work" on Linux and Windows
 //! features = ["static"]
@@ -2003,9 +2003,13 @@ pub trait FtdiEeprom<
     }
 }
 
+fn str_to_cstring(s: &str) -> std::ffi::CString {
+    std::ffi::CString::new(s).unwrap_or(std::ffi::CString::from(c""))
+}
+
 fn ft_open_ex(arg: &str, flag: u32) -> Result<FT_HANDLE, FtStatus> {
     let mut handle: FT_HANDLE = std::ptr::null_mut();
-    let cstr_arg = std::ffi::CString::new(arg).unwrap();
+    let cstr_arg = str_to_cstring(arg);
     trace!(r#"FT_OpenEx("{}", {}, _)"#, arg, flag);
     let status: FT_STATUS =
         unsafe { FT_OpenEx(cstr_arg.as_ptr() as *mut c_void, flag, &mut handle) };
@@ -2473,3 +2477,22 @@ impl Ftx232hMpsse for Ft232h {}
 impl Ftx232hMpsse for Ft2232h {}
 impl Ftx232hMpsse for Ft4232h {}
 impl Ftx232hMpsse for Ft4232ha {}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::str_to_cstring;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn str_to_cstr_basic() {
+        assert_eq!(
+            str_to_cstring("Hello, World!"),
+            std::ffi::CString::from(c"Hello, World!")
+        );
+    }
+
+    // https://github.com/ftdi-rs/libftd2xx/issues/83
+    #[test]
+    fn str_to_cstr_interior_null() {
+        str_to_cstring("\0\u{e}.r");
+    }
+}