diff --git a/lib/php72compat.php b/lib/php72compat.php
index d7b940e9..bf1e05eb 100644
--- a/lib/php72compat.php
+++ b/lib/php72compat.php
@@ -1286,13 +1286,14 @@ function sodium_crypto_stream_xor($message, $nonce, $key)
     /**
      * @see ParagonIE_Sodium_Compat::hex2bin()
      * @param string $string
+     * @param string $ignore
      * @return string
      * @throws SodiumException
      * @throws TypeError
      */
-    function sodium_hex2bin($string)
+    function sodium_hex2bin($string, $ignore = '')
     {
-        return ParagonIE_Sodium_Compat::hex2bin($string);
+        return ParagonIE_Sodium_Compat::hex2bin($string, $ignore);
     }
 }
 if (!is_callable('sodium_increment')) {
diff --git a/src/Compat.php b/src/Compat.php
index 7265d45c..3afe97c0 100644
--- a/src/Compat.php
+++ b/src/Compat.php
@@ -3219,26 +3219,28 @@ public static function crypto_stream_xchacha20_keygen()
      * Cache-timing-safe implementation of hex2bin().
      *
      * @param string $string Hexadecimal string
+     * @param string $ignore List of characters to ignore; useful for whitespace
      * @return string        Raw binary string
      * @throws SodiumException
      * @throws TypeError
      * @psalm-suppress TooFewArguments
      * @psalm-suppress MixedArgument
      */
-    public static function hex2bin($string)
+    public static function hex2bin($string, $ignore = '')
     {
         /* Type checks: */
         ParagonIE_Sodium_Core_Util::declareScalarType($string, 'string', 1);
+        ParagonIE_Sodium_Core_Util::declareScalarType($ignore, 'string', 2);
 
         if (self::useNewSodiumAPI()) {
             if (is_callable('sodium_hex2bin')) {
-                return (string) sodium_hex2bin($string);
+                return (string) sodium_hex2bin($string, $ignore);
             }
         }
         if (self::use_fallback('hex2bin')) {
-            return (string) call_user_func('\\Sodium\\hex2bin', $string);
+            return (string) call_user_func('\\Sodium\\hex2bin', $string, $ignore);
         }
-        return ParagonIE_Sodium_Core_Util::hex2bin($string);
+        return ParagonIE_Sodium_Core_Util::hex2bin($string, $ignore);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/Core/Util.php b/src/Core/Util.php
index 13221b36..73e463f2 100644
--- a/src/Core/Util.php
+++ b/src/Core/Util.php
@@ -309,27 +309,26 @@ protected static function hash_update(&$hs, $data)
      * @internal You should not use this directly from another application
      *
      * @param string $hexString
+     * @param string $ignore
      * @param bool $strictPadding
      * @return string (raw binary)
      * @throws RangeException
      * @throws TypeError
      */
-    public static function hex2bin($hexString, $strictPadding = false)
+    public static function hex2bin($hexString, $ignore = '', $strictPadding = false)
     {
         /* Type checks: */
         if (!is_string($hexString)) {
             throw new TypeError('Argument 1 must be a string, ' . gettype($hexString) . ' given.');
         }
+        if (!is_string($ignore)) {
+            throw new TypeError('Argument 2 must be a string, ' . gettype($hexString) . ' given.');
+        }
 
-        /** @var int $hex_pos */
         $hex_pos = 0;
-        /** @var string $bin */
         $bin = '';
-        /** @var int $c_acc */
         $c_acc = 0;
-        /** @var int $hex_len */
         $hex_len = self::strlen($hexString);
-        /** @var int $state */
         $state = 0;
         if (($hex_len & 1) !== 0) {
             if ($strictPadding) {
@@ -347,20 +346,18 @@ public static function hex2bin($hexString, $strictPadding = false)
             ++$hex_pos;
             /** @var int $c */
             $c = $chunk[$hex_pos];
-            /** @var int $c_num */
             $c_num = $c ^ 48;
-            /** @var int $c_num0 */
             $c_num0 = ($c_num - 10) >> 8;
-            /** @var int $c_alpha */
             $c_alpha = ($c & ~32) - 55;
-            /** @var int $c_alpha0 */
             $c_alpha0 = (($c_alpha - 10) ^ ($c_alpha - 16)) >> 8;
             if (($c_num0 | $c_alpha0) === 0) {
+                if ($ignore && $state === 0 && strpos($ignore, self::intToChr($c)) !== false) {
+                    continue;
+                }
                 throw new RangeException(
                     'hex2bin() only expects hexadecimal characters'
                 );
             }
-            /** @var int $c_val */
             $c_val = ($c_num0 & $c_num) | ($c_alpha & $c_alpha0);
             if ($state === 0) {
                 $c_acc = $c_val * 16;
@@ -382,7 +379,6 @@ public static function hex2bin($hexString, $strictPadding = false)
      */
     public static function intArrayToString(array $ints)
     {
-        /** @var array<int, int> $args */
         $args = $ints;
         foreach ($args as $i => $v) {
             $args[$i] = (int) ($v & 0xff);
diff --git a/tests/unit/HexTest.php b/tests/unit/HexTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7fbbeacd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/HexTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+<?php
+
+class HexTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
+{
+    public function hexProvider()
+    {
+        return array(
+            array('DEADBEEF', '', "\xde\xad\xbe\xef", false),
+            array('DeAdBeeF', '', "\xde\xad\xbe\xef", false),
+            array("De\nAdBe\neF", "\n", "\xde\xad\xbe\xef", false),
+            array("De\nAdBe eF", "\n", "\xde\xad\xbe\xef", true),
+            array("De\nAdBe eF", "\n ", "\xde\xad\xbe\xef", false),
+            array("De AdBe eF", " ", "\xde\xad\xbe\xef", false),
+        );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @dataProvider hexProvider
+     */
+    public function testHex2Bin($hex, $ignore, $binary, $fail)
+    {
+        try {
+            $decoded = ParagonIE_Sodium_Compat::hex2bin($hex, $ignore);
+            $this->assertFalse($fail, 'This should have failed but did not!');
+            $this->assertSame($binary, $decoded, 'Binary mismatch');
+        } catch (RangeException $ex) {
+            $this->assertTrue($fail, 'An unexpected hex2bin failure occurred');
+        } catch (SodiumException $ex) {
+            $this->assertTrue($fail, 'An unexpected hex2bin failure occurred');
+        }
+    }
+}