diff --git a/http.c b/http.c
index 96c5305d..42a44f71 100644
--- a/http.c
+++ b/http.c
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ strsep(char **s, const char *del)
 #endif
 
 void
-evutil_rtrim_(char *str)
+evutil_rtrim_lws_(char *str)
 {
 	char *cp;
 
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ evutil_rtrim_(char *str)
 
 	--cp;
 
-	while (*cp == ' ') {
+	while (*cp == ' ' || *cp == '\t') {
 		*cp = '\0';
 		if (cp == str)
 			break;
@@ -1934,7 +1934,7 @@ evhttp_parse_headers_(struct evhttp_request *req, struct evbuffer* buffer)
 			goto error;
 
 		svalue += strspn(svalue, " ");
-		evutil_rtrim_(svalue);
+		evutil_rtrim_lws_(svalue);
 
 		if (evhttp_add_header(headers, skey, svalue) == -1)
 			goto error;
diff --git a/test/regress_util.c b/test/regress_util.c
index 2f20e942..6c8374d0 100644
--- a/test/regress_util.c
+++ b/test/regress_util.c
@@ -441,7 +441,7 @@ test_evutil_rtrim(void *ptr)
 	do {						\
 	    if (cp) mm_free(cp);			\
 	    cp = s ? mm_strdup(s) : NULL;		\
-	    evutil_rtrim_(cp);				\
+	    evutil_rtrim_lws_(cp);			\
 	    if (result == NULL)				\
 		    tt_ptr_op(cp, ==, NULL);		\
 	    else					\
@@ -461,6 +461,14 @@ test_evutil_rtrim(void *ptr)
 	TEST_TRIM("a ", "a");
 	TEST_TRIM("abcdef  gH       ", "abcdef  gH");
 
+	TEST_TRIM("\t\t", "");
+	TEST_TRIM(" \t", "");
+	TEST_TRIM("\t", "");
+	TEST_TRIM("a \t", "a");
+	TEST_TRIM("a\t ", "a");
+	TEST_TRIM("a\t", "a");
+	TEST_TRIM("abcdef  gH    \t  ", "abcdef  gH");
+
 end:
 	if (cp)
 		mm_free(cp);
diff --git a/util-internal.h b/util-internal.h
index dff3d70b..fa29f271 100644
--- a/util-internal.h
+++ b/util-internal.h
@@ -218,8 +218,9 @@ int EVUTIL_ISUPPER_(char c);
 char EVUTIL_TOUPPER_(char c);
 char EVUTIL_TOLOWER_(char c);
 
-/** Remove all trailing whitespace from the end of a string */
-void evutil_rtrim_(char *);
+/** Remove all trailing horizontal whitespace (space or tab) from the end of a
+ * string */
+void evutil_rtrim_lws_(char *);
 
 
 /** Helper macro.  If we know that a given pointer points to a field in a