diff --git a/changes/ticket28077 b/changes/ticket28077
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2b5afb1678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/ticket28077
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+  o Code simplification and refactoring:
+    - Remove unnecessarily unsafe code from the rust macro cstr!. Closes
+      ticket 28077.
diff --git a/src/rust/tor_util/strings.rs b/src/rust/tor_util/strings.rs
index d64275e06b..71a908a58c 100644
--- a/src/rust/tor_util/strings.rs
+++ b/src/rust/tor_util/strings.rs
@@ -105,11 +105,7 @@ macro_rules! cstr {
     ($($bytes:expr),*) => (
         ::std::ffi::CStr::from_bytes_with_nul(
             concat!($($bytes),*, "\0").as_bytes()
-        ).unwrap_or(
-            unsafe{
-                ::std::ffi::CStr::from_bytes_with_nul_unchecked(b"\0")
-            }
-        )
+        ).unwrap_or_default()
     )
 }