diff --git a/src/libexpr/eval.hh b/src/libexpr/eval.hh
index cc63294c6..15925a6b4 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/eval.hh
+++ b/src/libexpr/eval.hh
@@ -181,8 +181,8 @@ public:
     Expr * parseExprFromFile(const Path & path, StaticEnv & staticEnv);
 
     /* Parse a Nix expression from the specified string. */
-    Expr * parseExprFromString(std::string_view s, const Path & basePath, StaticEnv & staticEnv);
-    Expr * parseExprFromString(std::string_view s, const Path & basePath);
+    Expr * parseExprFromString(std::string s, const Path & basePath, StaticEnv & staticEnv);
+    Expr * parseExprFromString(std::string s, const Path & basePath);
 
     Expr * parseStdin();
 
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ private:
     friend struct ExprAttrs;
     friend struct ExprLet;
 
-    Expr * parse(const char * text, FileOrigin origin, const Path & path,
+    Expr * parse(char * text, size_t length, FileOrigin origin, const Path & path,
         const Path & basePath, StaticEnv & staticEnv);
 
 public:
diff --git a/src/libexpr/parser.y b/src/libexpr/parser.y
index 049a149cc..a3e713937 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/parser.y
+++ b/src/libexpr/parser.y
@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@ formal
 namespace nix {
 
 
-Expr * EvalState::parse(const char * text, FileOrigin origin,
+Expr * EvalState::parse(char * text, size_t length, FileOrigin origin,
     const Path & path, const Path & basePath, StaticEnv & staticEnv)
 {
     yyscan_t scanner;
@@ -616,7 +616,7 @@ Expr * EvalState::parse(const char * text, FileOrigin origin,
     data.basePath = basePath;
 
     yylex_init(&scanner);
-    yy_scan_string(text, scanner);
+    yy_scan_buffer(text, length, scanner);
     int res = yyparse(scanner, &data);
     yylex_destroy(scanner);
 
@@ -662,26 +662,33 @@ Expr * EvalState::parseExprFromFile(const Path & path)
 
 Expr * EvalState::parseExprFromFile(const Path & path, StaticEnv & staticEnv)
 {
-    return parse(readFile(path).c_str(), foFile, path, dirOf(path), staticEnv);
+    auto buffer = readFile(path);
+    // readFile should have left some extra space for terminators
+    buffer.append("\0\0", 2);
+    return parse(buffer.data(), buffer.size(), foFile, path, dirOf(path), staticEnv);
 }
 
 
-Expr * EvalState::parseExprFromString(std::string_view s, const Path & basePath, StaticEnv & staticEnv)
+Expr * EvalState::parseExprFromString(std::string s, const Path & basePath, StaticEnv & staticEnv)
 {
-    return parse(s.data(), foString, "", basePath, staticEnv);
+    s.append("\0\0", 2);
+    return parse(s.data(), s.size(), foString, "", basePath, staticEnv);
 }
 
 
-Expr * EvalState::parseExprFromString(std::string_view s, const Path & basePath)
+Expr * EvalState::parseExprFromString(std::string s, const Path & basePath)
 {
-    return parseExprFromString(s, basePath, staticBaseEnv);
+    return parseExprFromString(std::move(s), basePath, staticBaseEnv);
 }
 
 
 Expr * EvalState::parseStdin()
 {
     //Activity act(*logger, lvlTalkative, format("parsing standard input"));
-    return parse(drainFD(0).data(), foStdin, "", absPath("."), staticBaseEnv);
+    auto buffer = drainFD(0);
+    // drainFD should have left some extra space for terminators
+    buffer.append("\0\0", 2);
+    return parse(buffer.data(), buffer.size(), foStdin, "", absPath("."), staticBaseEnv);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/libexpr/primops.cc b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
index 66af373d7..852317aa3 100644
--- a/src/libexpr/primops.cc
+++ b/src/libexpr/primops.cc
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ void prim_exec(EvalState & state, const Pos & pos, Value * * args, Value & v)
     auto output = runProgram(program, true, commandArgs);
     Expr * parsed;
     try {
-        parsed = state.parseExprFromString(output, pos.file);
+        parsed = state.parseExprFromString(std::move(output), pos.file);
     } catch (Error & e) {
         e.addTrace(pos, "While parsing the output from '%1%'", program);
         throw;
@@ -3800,9 +3800,12 @@ void EvalState::createBaseEnv()
 
     /* Note: we have to initialize the 'derivation' constant *after*
        building baseEnv/staticBaseEnv because it uses 'builtins'. */
-    eval(parse(
+    char code[] =
         #include "primops/derivation.nix.gen.hh"
-        , foFile, sDerivationNix, "/", staticBaseEnv), *vDerivation);
+        // the parser needs two NUL bytes as terminators; one of them
+        // is implied by being a C string.
+        "\0";
+    eval(parse(code, sizeof(code), foFile, sDerivationNix, "/", staticBaseEnv), *vDerivation);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/libutil/util.cc b/src/libutil/util.cc
index 43fea1b1e..f15a617b0 100644
--- a/src/libutil/util.cc
+++ b/src/libutil/util.cc
@@ -669,7 +669,9 @@ void writeFull(int fd, std::string_view s, bool allowInterrupts)
 
 string drainFD(int fd, bool block, const size_t reserveSize)
 {
-    StringSink sink(reserveSize);
+    // the parser needs two extra bytes to append terminating characters, other users will
+    // not care very much about the extra memory.
+    StringSink sink(reserveSize + 2);
     drainFD(fd, sink, block);
     return std::move(*sink.s);
 }
diff --git a/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc b/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
index e2325c91f..b5d0f4813 100755
--- a/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
+++ b/src/nix-build/nix-build.cc
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ static void main_nix_build(int argc, char * * argv)
     else
         for (auto i : left) {
             if (fromArgs)
-                exprs.push_back(state->parseExprFromString(i, absPath(".")));
+                exprs.push_back(state->parseExprFromString(std::move(i), absPath(".")));
             else {
                 auto absolute = i;
                 try {
diff --git a/src/nix/repl.cc b/src/nix/repl.cc
index f453343f3..c8bb5a90f 100644
--- a/src/nix/repl.cc
+++ b/src/nix/repl.cc
@@ -683,7 +683,7 @@ void NixRepl::addVarToScope(const Symbol & name, Value & v)
 
 Expr * NixRepl::parseString(string s)
 {
-    Expr * e = state->parseExprFromString(s, curDir, staticEnv);
+    Expr * e = state->parseExprFromString(std::move(s), curDir, staticEnv);
     return e;
 }