diff --git a/lib/filters/equality_filter.js b/lib/filters/equality_filter.js
index fc40d95..151290b 100644
--- a/lib/filters/equality_filter.js
+++ b/lib/filters/equality_filter.js
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 var assert = require('assert');
 var util = require('util');
 
+var ASN1 = require('asn1').Ber;
+
 var escape = require('./escape').escape;
 
 var Filter = require('./filter');
@@ -17,17 +19,29 @@ function EqualityFilter(options) {
   if (typeof (options) === 'object') {
     if (!options.attribute || typeof (options.attribute) !== 'string')
       throw new TypeError('options.attribute (string) required');
-    if (!options.value || typeof (options.value) !== 'string')
-      throw new TypeError('options.value (string) required');
-    this.attribute = options.attribute;
-    this.value = options.value;
+    if (!options.value)
+      throw new TypeError('options.value required');
   } else {
+    this.raw = new Buffer(0);
     options = {};
   }
   options.type = Protocol.FILTER_EQUALITY;
   Filter.call(this, options);
 
   var self = this;
+  this.__defineGetter__('value', function () {
+    return self.raw.toString();
+  });
+  this.__defineSetter__('value', function (data) {
+    if (typeof (data) === 'string') {
+      self.raw = new Buffer(data);
+    } else if (Buffer.isBuffer(data)) {
+      self.raw = new Buffer(data.length);
+      data.copy(self.raw);
+    } else {
+      throw new TypeError('value (string|buffer) required');
+    }
+  });
   this.__defineGetter__('json', function () {
     return {
       type: 'EqualityMatch',
@@ -35,6 +49,10 @@ function EqualityFilter(options) {
       value: self.value || undefined
     };
   });
+  if (options.attribute !== undefined && options.value !== undefined) {
+    this.attribute = options.attribute;
+    this.value = options.value;
+  }
 }
 util.inherits(EqualityFilter, Filter);
 module.exports = EqualityFilter;
@@ -71,7 +89,7 @@ EqualityFilter.prototype.parse = function (ber) {
   assert.ok(ber);
 
   this.attribute = ber.readString().toLowerCase();
-  this.value = ber.readString();
+  this.value = ber.readString(ASN1.OctetString, true);
 
   if (this.attribute === 'objectclass')
     this.value = this.value.toLowerCase();
@@ -84,7 +102,7 @@ EqualityFilter.prototype._toBer = function (ber) {
   assert.ok(ber);
 
   ber.writeString(this.attribute);
-  ber.writeString(this.value);
+  ber.writeBuffer(this.raw, ASN1.OctetString);
 
   return ber;
 };
diff --git a/test/filters/eq.test.js b/test/filters/eq.test.js
index 37d8b8c..c038ccc 100644
--- a/test/filters/eq.test.js
+++ b/test/filters/eq.test.js
@@ -101,9 +101,12 @@ test('parse ok', function (t) {
   t.ok(f);
   t.ok(f.parse(new BerReader(writer.buffer)));
   t.ok(f.matches({ foo: 'bar' }));
+  t.equal(f.attribute, 'foo');
+  t.equal(f.value, 'bar');
   t.end();
 });
 
+
 test('escape EqualityFilter inputs', function (t) {
   var f = new EqualityFilter({
     attribute: '(|(foo',
@@ -154,3 +157,28 @@ test('GH-109 = to ber uses plain values', function (t) {
   t.equal(f.value, 'ba(r)');
   t.end();
 });
+
+
+test('handle values passed via buffer', function (t) {
+  var b = new Buffer([32, 64, 128, 254]);
+  var f = new EqualityFilter({
+    attribute: 'foo',
+    value: b
+  });
+  t.ok(f);
+
+  var writer = new BerWriter();
+  f.toBer(writer);
+  var reader = new BerReader(writer.buffer);
+  reader.readSequence();
+
+  var f2 = new EqualityFilter();
+  t.ok(f2.parse(reader));
+
+  t.equal(f2.value, b.toString());
+  t.equal(f2.raw.length, b.length);
+  for (var i = 0; i < b.length; i++) {
+    t.equal(f2.raw[i], b[i]);
+  }
+  t.end();
+});