diff --git a/src/gmv/imap_utils.py b/src/gmv/imap_utils.py
index f30be16c..f4c8ce4d 100755
--- a/src/gmv/imap_utils.py
+++ b/src/gmv/imap_utils.py
@@ -36,23 +36,76 @@
 import gmv.gmvault_utils as gmvault_utils
 import gmv.mod_imap as mimap
 
+import email.parser
+
 LOG = log_utils.LoggerFactory.get_logger('imap_utils')
 
+
+re_valid_base64 = re.compile('^[A-Za-z0-9+/=\r\n]*$')
+def is_valid_base64_email_payload(payload):
+    """Check if a base64-encoded email payload is valid
+
+    A payload is a part of a multipart message for instance.
+
+    NOTE: There is no base64 alphabet validating function
+    in the standard library so we use our own.
+    We only permit the standard base64 alphabet and CRLF.
+    """
+    re_match = re_valid_base64.match(payload)
+    return re_match is not None
+
+
+def check_email_payload_encodings(email_body):
+    """
+    Check whether emails-to-push have correctly specified encodings.
+    If there is binary data where base64 is expected, gmail will break
+    and interpret the ("random") binary data as part of the SMTP or
+    IMAP protocol metadata or something.
+
+    See: https://github.com/gaubert/gmvault/pull/283
+    """
+    parser = email.parser.Parser()
+    message = parser.parsestr(email_body)
+
+    for submsg in message.walk():
+        # We can only check non-multipart, parts, for validity.
+        if submsg.is_multipart():
+            continue
+
+        cte = submsg.get('content-transfer-encoding', '').lower()
+
+        # Only "falsely" base64-encoded emails have had problems with gmail servers so far,
+        # so we don't bother trying to validate the rest.
+        if cte != 'base64':
+            continue
+
+        if not is_valid_base64_email_payload(submsg._payload):
+            raise PushEmailError(
+                "Bad data encoding: base64-encoded data contains non-base64 characters.",
+                permanent = True,
+            )
+
+
 class PushEmailError(Exception):
     """
        PushEmail Error
     """
-    def __init__(self, a_msg, quarantined = False):
+    def __init__(self, a_msg, quarantined = False, permanent = False):
         """
            Constructor
         """
         super(PushEmailError, self).__init__(a_msg)
         self._in_quarantine = quarantined
+        self._permanent = permanent
     
     def quarantined(self):
         """ Get email to quarantine """
         return self._in_quarantine
 
+    def is_permanent(self):
+        """ Is the error permanent? Should we attempt to retry? """
+        return self._permanent
+
 class LabelError(Exception):
     """
        LabelError. Exception send when there is an error when adding labels to message
@@ -134,12 +187,17 @@ def wrapper(*args, **kwargs): #pylint:disable=C0111,R0912
                     
                     LOG.debug("error message = %s. traceback:%s" % (p_err, gmvault_utils.get_exception_traceback()))
                     
-                    if nb_tries[0] < a_nb_tries:
-                        LOG.critical("Cannot reach the Gmail server. Wait %s second(s) and retrying." % (m_sleep_time[0]))
+                    if p_err.is_permanent():
+                        LOG.critical('Permanent error in email message: {}'.format(p_err))
+                        break
+
                     else:
-                        LOG.critical("Stop retrying, tried too many times ...")
-                    
-                    reconnect(args[0], nb_tries, a_nb_tries, p_err, m_sleep_time)
+                        if nb_tries[0] < a_nb_tries:
+                            LOG.critical("Cannot reach the Gmail server. Wait %s second(s) and retrying." % (m_sleep_time[0]))
+                        else:
+                            LOG.critical("Stop retrying, tried too many times ...")
+
+                        reconnect(args[0], nb_tries, a_nb_tries, p_err, m_sleep_time)
                 
                 except imaplib.IMAP4.abort, err: #abort is recoverable and error is not
                     
@@ -796,10 +854,12 @@ def push_data(self, a_folder, a_body, a_flags, a_internal_time):
         #msg = "a_folder = %s" % (a_folder.encode('utf-8'))
         #msg = msg.encode('utf-8')
         #print(msg)
+        check_email_payload_encodings(a_body)
+
         res = None
         try:
-           #a_body = self._clean_email_body(a_body)
-           res = self.server.append(a_folder, a_body, a_flags, a_internal_time)
+            res = self.server.append(a_folder, a_body, a_flags, a_internal_time)
+
         except imaplib.IMAP4.abort, err:
            # handle issue when there are invalid characters (This is do to the presence of null characters)
            if str(err).find("APPEND => Invalid character in literal") >= 0: