diff --git a/contracts/utils/ShortStrings.sol b/contracts/utils/ShortStrings.sol
index 9f253df82..2f891aaa3 100644
--- a/contracts/utils/ShortStrings.sol
+++ b/contracts/utils/ShortStrings.sol
@@ -32,7 +32,10 @@ type ShortString is bytes32;
  * ```
  */
 library ShortStrings {
+    bytes32 private constant _FALLBACK_SENTINEL = 0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000FF;
+
     error StringTooLong(string str);
+    error InvalidShortString();
 
     /**
      * @dev Encode a string of at most 31 chars into a `ShortString`.
@@ -66,7 +69,11 @@ library ShortStrings {
      * @dev Return the length of a `ShortString`.
      */
     function length(ShortString sstr) internal pure returns (uint256) {
-        return uint256(ShortString.unwrap(sstr)) & 0xFF;
+        uint256 result = uint256(ShortString.unwrap(sstr)) & 0xFF;
+        if (result > 31) {
+            revert InvalidShortString();
+        }
+        return result;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -77,7 +84,7 @@ library ShortStrings {
             return toShortString(value);
         } else {
             StorageSlot.getStringSlot(store).value = value;
-            return ShortString.wrap(0);
+            return ShortString.wrap(_FALLBACK_SENTINEL);
         }
     }
 
@@ -85,7 +92,7 @@ library ShortStrings {
      * @dev Decode a string that was encoded to `ShortString` or written to storage using {setWithFallback}.
      */
     function toStringWithFallback(ShortString value, string storage store) internal pure returns (string memory) {
-        if (length(value) > 0) {
+        if (ShortString.unwrap(value) != _FALLBACK_SENTINEL) {
             return toString(value);
         } else {
             return store;
diff --git a/test/utils/ShortStrings.test.js b/test/utils/ShortStrings.test.js
index f41084a7e..27d52a5d7 100644
--- a/test/utils/ShortStrings.test.js
+++ b/test/utils/ShortStrings.test.js
@@ -3,9 +3,12 @@ const { expectRevertCustomError } = require('../helpers/customError');
 
 const ShortStrings = artifacts.require('$ShortStrings');
 
+function length(sstr) {
+  return parseInt(sstr.slice(64), 16);
+}
+
 function decode(sstr) {
-  const length = parseInt(sstr.slice(64), 16);
-  return web3.utils.toUtf8(sstr).slice(0, length);
+  return web3.utils.toUtf8(sstr).slice(0, length(sstr));
 }
 
 contract('ShortStrings', function () {
@@ -34,7 +37,12 @@ contract('ShortStrings', function () {
         const { logs } = await this.mock.$toShortStringWithFallback(str, 0);
         const { ret0 } = logs.find(({ event }) => event == 'return$toShortStringWithFallback').args;
 
-        expect(await this.mock.$toString(ret0)).to.be.equal(str.length < 32 ? str : '');
+        const promise = this.mock.$toString(ret0);
+        if (str.length < 32) {
+          expect(await promise).to.be.equal(str);
+        } else {
+          await expectRevertCustomError(promise, 'InvalidShortString()');
+        }
 
         const recovered = await this.mock.$toStringWithFallback(ret0, 0);
         expect(recovered).to.be.equal(str);