diff --git a/server/modules/routing/avrorouter/avro_file.c b/server/modules/routing/avrorouter/avro_file.c
index 5c4330067..f902f52be 100644
--- a/server/modules/routing/avrorouter/avro_file.c
+++ b/server/modules/routing/avrorouter/avro_file.c
@@ -665,6 +665,13 @@ avro_binlog_end_t avro_read_all_events(AVRO_INSTANCE *router)
             snprintf(next_file, sizeof(next_file), BINLOG_NAMEFMT, router->fileroot,
                      blr_file_get_next_binlogname(router->binlog_name));
         }
+        else if (hdr.event_type == MARIADB_ANNOTATE_ROWS_EVENT)
+        {
+            MXS_INFO("Annotate_rows_event: %.*s", hdr.event_size - BINLOG_EVENT_HDR_LEN, ptr);
+            pos += original_size;
+            router->current_pos = pos;
+            continue;
+        }
         else if (hdr.event_type == TABLE_MAP_EVENT)
         {
             handle_table_map_event(router, &hdr, ptr);
diff --git a/server/modules/routing/avrorouter/avro_rbr.c b/server/modules/routing/avrorouter/avro_rbr.c
index 4ad688097..2df4a07c6 100644
--- a/server/modules/routing/avrorouter/avro_rbr.c
+++ b/server/modules/routing/avrorouter/avro_rbr.c
@@ -588,7 +588,6 @@ uint8_t* process_row_event_data(TABLE_MAP *map, TABLE_CREATE *create, avro_value
                     }
 
                     MXS_INFO("[%ld] CHAR: field: %d bytes, data: %d bytes", i, field_length, bytes);
-                    ss_dassert(bytes || *ptr == '\0');
                     char str[bytes + 1];
                     memcpy(str, ptr, bytes);
                     str[bytes] = '\0';