diff --git a/app/middleware.py b/app/middleware.py
index db97bb0..2e7ce27 100644
--- a/app/middleware.py
+++ b/app/middleware.py
@@ -23,17 +23,17 @@ class PatchMalformedJsonMiddleware(BaseHTTPMiddleware):
 
         if self.enabled and content_type == 'application/json':
             logger.debug(f'Using Request-Patch because "PatchMalformedJsonMiddleware" is enabled!')
+            body = body.decode()
 
             # try to fix json
-            body = body.decode()
             try:
                 j = json.loads(body)
                 self.fix_mac_address_list_length(j=j, size=1)
             except json.decoder.JSONDecodeError:
                 logger.warning(f'Malformed json received! Try to fix it.')
-                s = PatchMalformedJsonMiddleware.fix_json(body)
-                logger.debug(f'Fixed JSON: "{s}"')
-                j = json.loads(s)  # ensure json is now valid
+                body = PatchMalformedJsonMiddleware.fix_json(body)
+                logger.debug(f'Fixed JSON: "{body}"')
+                j = json.loads(body)  # ensure json is now valid
                 j = self.fix_mac_address_list_length(j=j, size=1)
                 # set new body
                 request._body = json.dumps(j).encode('utf-8')