diff --git a/apache2/re.c b/apache2/re.c
index 82eba8f2..0a8b0724 100644
--- a/apache2/re.c
+++ b/apache2/re.c
@@ -472,8 +472,8 @@ char *update_rule_target_ex(modsec_rec *msr, msre_ruleset *ruleset, msre_rule *r
 
 end:
     if (my_error_msg) {
-        if (msr) msr_log(msr, 9, my_error_msg);
-        else ap_log_error(APLOG_MARK, APLOG_INFO, 0, NULL, my_error_msg);
+        if (msr) msr_log(msr, 9, "%s", my_error_msg);
+        else ap_log_error(APLOG_MARK, APLOG_INFO, 0, NULL, "%s", my_error_msg);
     }
     if (target_list != NULL) free(target_list);
     if (replace != NULL) free(replace);