diff --git a/bin/service/security.py b/bin/service/security.py
index 2653328edfd..0bc68eb4006 100644
--- a/bin/service/security.py
+++ b/bin/service/security.py
@@ -34,13 +34,13 @@ _uid_cache = {}
 
 def login(db, login, password):
 	cr = pooler.get_db(db).cursor()
-	cr.execute('select id from res_users where login=%s and password=%s and active', (login, password))
+	cr.execute('select id from res_users where login=%s and password=%s and active', (login.encode('utf-8'), password.encode('utf-8')))
 	res = cr.fetchone()
 	cr.close()
 	if res:
 		return res[0]
 	else:
-		raise Exception('Bad username or password')
+		return False
 
 def check_super(passwd):
 	if passwd == tools.config['admin_passwd']:
diff --git a/bin/service/web_services.py b/bin/service/web_services.py
index 29d7c2da16b..c248f53fece 100644
--- a/bin/service/web_services.py
+++ b/bin/service/web_services.py
@@ -285,16 +285,11 @@ class common(netsvc.Service):
 		return res
 
 	def login(self, db, login, password):
+		res = security.login(db, login, password)
 		logger = netsvc.Logger()
-		cr = pooler.get_db(db).cursor()
-#FIXME: this is a temporary fix for the crash on login/password with non ASCII chars. 
-#We should fix this in a better way (ie somewhere else)
-		cr.execute('select id from res_users where login=%s and password=%s', (login.encode('utf-8'), password.encode('utf-8')))
-		res = cr.fetchone()
 		msg = res and 'successful login' or 'bad login or password'
 		logger.notifyChannel("web-service", netsvc.LOG_INFO, "%s from '%s' using database '%s'" % (msg, login, db))
-		cr.close()
-		return (res and res[0]) or False
+		return res or False
 
 	def about(self):
 		return tools.version_string + _('''