diff -up serf-0.9.5/client/rpc_client.go.orig serf-0.9.5/client/rpc_client.go
--- serf-0.9.5/client/rpc_client.go.orig	2020-10-07 18:07:27.000000000 +0200
+++ serf-0.9.5/client/rpc_client.go	2021-01-03 10:33:26.898222569 +0100
@@ -142,9 +142,9 @@ func ClientFromConfig(c *Config) (*RPCCl
 		shutdownCh: make(chan struct{}),
 	}
 	client.dec = codec.NewDecoder(client.reader,
-		&codec.MsgpackHandle{RawToString: true, WriteExt: true})
+		&codec.MsgpackHandle{WriteExt: true})
 	client.enc = codec.NewEncoder(client.writer,
-		&codec.MsgpackHandle{RawToString: true, WriteExt: true})
+		&codec.MsgpackHandle{WriteExt: true})
 	go client.listen()
 
 	// Do the initial handshake
diff -up serf-0.9.5/cmd/serf/command/agent/ipc.go.orig serf-0.9.5/cmd/serf/command/agent/ipc.go
--- serf-0.9.5/cmd/serf/command/agent/ipc.go.orig	2020-10-07 18:07:27.000000000 +0200
+++ serf-0.9.5/cmd/serf/command/agent/ipc.go	2021-01-03 10:34:42.280742669 +0100
@@ -387,9 +387,9 @@ func (i *AgentIPC) listen() {
 			pendingQueries: make(map[uint64]*serf.Query),
 		}
 		client.dec = codec.NewDecoder(client.reader,
-			&codec.MsgpackHandle{RawToString: true, WriteExt: true})
+			&codec.MsgpackHandle{WriteExt: true})
 		client.enc = codec.NewEncoder(client.writer,
-			&codec.MsgpackHandle{RawToString: true, WriteExt: true})
+			&codec.MsgpackHandle{WriteExt: true})
 
 		// Register the client
 		i.Lock()