diff --git a/src/value.cpp b/src/value.cpp
index 579e4081..d2ef5fbd 100644
--- a/src/value.cpp
+++ b/src/value.cpp
@@ -410,7 +410,8 @@ namespace Exiv2 {
     int AsciiValue::read(const std::string& buf)
     {
         value_ = buf;
-        if (value_.size() > 0 && value_[value_.size()-1] != '\0') value_ += '\0';
+        // ensure count>0 and nul terminated # https://github.com/Exiv2/exiv2/issues/1484
+        if (value_.size() == 0 || (value_.size() > 0 && value_[value_.size()-1] != '\0')) value_ += '\0';
         return 0;
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/bugfixes/github/test_issue_1484.py b/tests/bugfixes/github/test_issue_1484.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6a3ce1cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/bugfixes/github/test_issue_1484.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+from system_tests import CaseMeta, CopyTmpFiles, path
+@CopyTmpFiles("$data_path/Stonehenge.exv")
+
+class test_issue_1484(metaclass=CaseMeta):
+    url       = "https://github.com/Exiv2/exiv2/issues/1484"
+    filename  = path("$tmp_path/Stonehenge.exv")
+    commands  = [ "$exiv2 -g Copyright                            $filename" 
+                , "$exiv2 -M\"set Exif.Image.Copyright Ascii ''\" $filename"
+                , "$exiv2 -g Copyright                            $filename"
+                , "$exiv2 -M\"del Exif.Image.Copyright Ascii\"    $filename"
+                , "$exiv2 -g Copyright                            $filename"
+                , "$exiv2 -M\"set Exif.Image.Copyright\"          $filename"
+                , "$exiv2 -g Copyright                            $filename"
+                , "$exiv2 -M\"set Exif.Image.Copyright me 2021-\" $filename"
+                , "$exiv2 -g Copyright                            $filename"
+                ]
+    stdout   =  ["","",
+"""Exif.Image.Copyright                         Ascii       1  
+""","","","",
+"""Exif.Image.Copyright                         Ascii       1  
+""","",
+"""Exif.Image.Copyright                         Ascii       9  me 2021-
+"""]
+    stderr = [""]*len(commands)
+    retval = [1,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0]    
+    
\ No newline at end of file