diff --git a/regression/cbmc/xml-nonprintable-chars/main.c b/regression/cbmc/xml-nonprintable-chars/main.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2f25ac558c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/regression/cbmc/xml-nonprintable-chars/main.c
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#include <assert.h>
+
+int main(void)
+{
+  const unsigned char *str = (unsigned char *)"\x00";
+  assert(*str == '\x01');
+  return 0;
+}
diff --git a/regression/cbmc/xml-nonprintable-chars/test.desc b/regression/cbmc/xml-nonprintable-chars/test.desc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..65b43da4ea5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/regression/cbmc/xml-nonprintable-chars/test.desc
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+CORE
+main.c
+--trace --xml-ui
+^EXIT=10$
+^SIGNAL=0$
+VERIFICATION FAILED
+--
+XML does not support escaping non-printable character
+--
+Test that cbmc with --trace --xml-ui handles non-printable characters
+gracefully without crashing when they appear in counterexample traces.
+This test verifies that the fix for character 0x01 allows XML generation
+to complete successfully by using numeric character references.
diff --git a/src/util/xml.cpp b/src/util/xml.cpp
index 803037b68a1..6781fd38ee8 100644
--- a/src/util/xml.cpp
+++ b/src/util/xml.cpp
@@ -107,11 +107,16 @@ void xmlt::escape(const std::string &s, std::ostream &out)
       break;
 
     default:
-      DATA_INVARIANT(
-        static_cast<unsigned char>(ch) >= 32u,
-        "XML does not support escaping non-printable character " +
-          std::to_string((unsigned char)ch));
-      out << ch;
+      // Handle non-printable characters by escaping them as numeric character
+      // references instead of crashing
+      if(static_cast<unsigned char>(ch) < 32u)
+      {
+        out << "&#" << std::to_string((unsigned char)ch) << ';';
+      }
+      else
+      {
+        out << ch;
+      }
     }
   }
 }
@@ -148,11 +153,16 @@ void xmlt::escape_attribute(const std::string &s, std::ostream &out)
       break;
 
     default:
-      DATA_INVARIANT(
-        static_cast<unsigned char>(ch) >= 32u,
-        "XML does not support escaping non-printable character " +
-          std::to_string((unsigned char)ch));
-      out << ch;
+      // Handle non-printable characters by escaping them as numeric character
+      // references instead of crashing
+      if(static_cast<unsigned char>(ch) < 32u)
+      {
+        out << "&#" << std::to_string((unsigned char)ch) << ';';
+      }
+      else
+      {
+        out << ch;
+      }
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/unit/util/xml.cpp b/unit/util/xml.cpp
index d12eaa21391..48712aa9736 100644
--- a/unit/util/xml.cpp
+++ b/unit/util/xml.cpp
@@ -6,9 +6,12 @@ Author: Thomas Kiley
 
 \*******************************************************************/
 
-#include <testing-utils/use_catch.h>
 #include <util/xml.h>
 
+#include <testing-utils/use_catch.h>
+
+#include <sstream>
+
 TEST_CASE("xml_equal", "[core][util][xml]")
 {
   SECTION("Empty xml")
@@ -97,3 +100,48 @@ TEST_CASE("xml_equal", "[core][util][xml]")
     }
   }
 }
+
+TEST_CASE("xml_escape_nonprintable", "[core][util][xml]")
+{
+  SECTION("Escaping non-printable characters in attributes")
+  {
+    xmlt node{"test"};
+    node.set_attribute("value", std::string("\x01\x02\x1F", 3));
+
+    std::ostringstream out;
+    node.output(out);
+
+    std::string result = out.str();
+    // Should contain numeric character references for non-printable chars
+    REQUIRE(result.find("&#1;") != std::string::npos);
+    REQUIRE(result.find("&#2;") != std::string::npos);
+    REQUIRE(result.find("&#31;") != std::string::npos);
+  }
+
+  SECTION("Escaping non-printable characters in data")
+  {
+    xmlt node{"test"};
+    node.data = std::string("\x01\x02\x1F", 3);
+
+    std::ostringstream out;
+    node.output(out);
+
+    std::string result = out.str();
+    // Should contain numeric character references for non-printable chars
+    REQUIRE(result.find("&#1;") != std::string::npos);
+    REQUIRE(result.find("&#2;") != std::string::npos);
+    REQUIRE(result.find("&#31;") != std::string::npos);
+  }
+
+  SECTION("Standard printable characters unchanged")
+  {
+    xmlt node{"test"};
+    node.set_attribute("value", "Hello World!");
+
+    std::ostringstream out;
+    node.output(out);
+
+    std::string result = out.str();
+    REQUIRE(result.find("Hello World!") != std::string::npos);
+  }
+}