diff --git a/elftools/common/utils.py b/elftools/common/utils.py
index 2ce6746..7aa1cd9 100644
--- a/elftools/common/utils.py
+++ b/elftools/common/utils.py
@@ -34,16 +34,29 @@
 
 def parse_cstring_from_stream(stream, stream_pos=None):
     """ Parse a C-string from the given stream. The string is returned without
-        the terminating \x00 byte.
+        the terminating \x00 byte. If the terminating byte wasn't found, None
+        is returned (the stream is exhausted).
         If stream_pos is provided, the stream is seeked to this position before
         the parsing is done. Otherwise, the current position of the stream is
         used.
     """
-    # I could've just used construct.CString, but this function is 4x faster.
-    # Since it's needed a lot, I created it as an optimization.
     if stream_pos is not None:
         stream.seek(stream_pos)
-    return ''.join(iter(lambda: stream.read(1), '\x00'))
+    CHUNKSIZE = 64
+    chunks = []
+    found = False
+    while True:
+        chunk = stream.read(CHUNKSIZE)
+        end_index = chunk.find('\x00')
+        if end_index >= 0:
+            chunks.append(chunk[:end_index])
+            found = True
+            break
+        else:
+            chunks.append(chunk)
+        if len(chunk) < CHUNKSIZE:
+            break
+    return ''.join(chunks) if found else None
 
 
 def elf_assert(cond, msg=''):
@@ -77,3 +90,4 @@
     saved_pos = stream.tell()
     yield
     stream.seek(saved_pos)
+
diff --git a/tests/run_readelf_tests.py b/tests/run_readelf_tests.py
index acb4964..5e66318 100755
--- a/tests/run_readelf_tests.py
+++ b/tests/run_readelf_tests.py
@@ -185,8 +185,8 @@
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    import os
-    os.chdir('..')
+    #import os
+    #os.chdir('..')
     main()
     #testlog.info(list(discover_testfiles('tests/testfiles'))) 
     #print run_exe('scripts/readelf.py', ['-h', 'tests/testfiles/z32.o.elf'])
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..54a09bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+import sys, unittest
+from cStringIO import StringIO
+from random import randint
+
+sys.path.extend(['.', '..'])
+from elftools.common.utils import (parse_cstring_from_stream,
+        preserve_stream_pos)
+
+
+class Test_parse_cstring_from_stream(unittest.TestCase):
+    def _make_random_string(self, n):
+        return ''.join(chr(randint(32, 127)) for i in range(n))
+        
+    def test_small1(self):
+        sio = StringIO('abcdefgh\x0012345')
+        self.assertEqual(parse_cstring_from_stream(sio), 'abcdefgh')
+        self.assertEqual(parse_cstring_from_stream(sio, 2), 'cdefgh')
+        self.assertEqual(parse_cstring_from_stream(sio, 8), '')
+
+    def test_small2(self):
+        sio = StringIO('12345\x006789\x00abcdefg\x00iii')
+        self.assertEqual(parse_cstring_from_stream(sio), '12345')
+        self.assertEqual(parse_cstring_from_stream(sio, 5), '')
+        self.assertEqual(parse_cstring_from_stream(sio, 6), '6789')
+
+    def test_large1(self):
+        text = 'i' * 400 + '\x00' + 'bb'
+        sio = StringIO(text)
+        self.assertEqual(parse_cstring_from_stream(sio), 'i' * 400)
+        self.assertEqual(parse_cstring_from_stream(sio, 150), 'i' * 250)
+
+    def test_large2(self):
+        text = self._make_random_string(5000) + '\x00' + 'jujajaja'
+        sio = StringIO(text)
+        self.assertEqual(parse_cstring_from_stream(sio), text[:5000])
+        self.assertEqual(parse_cstring_from_stream(sio, 2348), text[2348:5000])
+
+
+class Test_preserve_stream_pos(object):
+    def test_basic(self):
+        sio = StringIO('abcdef')
+        with preserve_stream_pos(sio):
+            sio.seek(4)
+        self.assertEqual(stream.tell(), 0)
+
+        sio.seek(5)
+        with preserve_stream_pos(sio):
+            sio.seek(0)
+        self.assertEqual(stream.tell(), 5)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()
+
+
+