diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index cdb2b5e4ef..5ce256e385 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@ Fixed
   up correctly, specifically when specifying a bastion host / jump box. (bug fix) #4973
 
   Contributed by Nick Maludy (@nmaludy Encore Technologies)
+* Fixed a bytes/string encoding bug in the ``linux.dig`` action so it should work on Python 3
+  (bug fix) #4993
 
 * Fixed a bug where a python3 sensor using ssl needs to be monkey patched earlier. See also #4832, #4975 and gevent/gevent#1016 (bug fix) #4976
   
@@ -68,6 +70,9 @@ Fixed
   Contributed by Bradley Bishop (@bishopbm1 Encore Technologies)
 * Fix a regression when updated ``dnspython`` pip dependency resulted in
   st2 services unable to connect to mongodb remote host (bug fix) #4997
+* Fixed a regression in the ``linux.dig`` action on Python 3. (bug fix) #4993
+
+  Contributed by @blag
 
 Changed
 ~~~~~~~
diff --git a/contrib/linux/actions/dig.py b/contrib/linux/actions/dig.py
index 46dc970473..9a3b58a5cd 100644
--- a/contrib/linux/actions/dig.py
+++ b/contrib/linux/actions/dig.py
@@ -16,9 +16,10 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 import errno
+import locale
 import subprocess
 import random
-import re
+import sys
 
 from st2common.runners.base_action import Action
 
@@ -34,26 +35,33 @@ def run(self, rand, count, nameserver, hostname, queryopts):
             nameserver = '@' + nameserver
             cmd_args.append(nameserver)
 
-        if re.search(',', queryopts):
+        if isinstance(queryopts, str) and ',' in queryopts:
             opt_list = queryopts.split(',')
         else:
             opt_list.append(queryopts)
-        for k, v in enumerate(opt_list):
-            cmd_args.append('+' + v)
+
+        cmd_args.extend(['+' + option for option in opt_list])
 
         cmd_args.append(hostname)
 
         try:
-            result_list = filter(None, subprocess.Popen(cmd_args,
-                                                        stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
-                                                        stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
-                                 .communicate()[0]
-                                 .split('\n'))
+            raw_result = subprocess.Popen(cmd_args,
+                                          stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
+                                          stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0]
+
+            if sys.version_info >= (3,):
+                # This function might call getpreferred encoding unless we pass
+                # do_setlocale=False.
+                encoding = locale.getpreferredencoding(do_setlocale=False)
+                result_list_str = raw_result.decode(encoding)
+            else:
+                result_list_str = str(raw_result)
+
+            result_list = list(filter(None, result_list_str.split('\n')))
 
         # NOTE: Python3 supports the FileNotFoundError, the errono.ENOENT is for py2 compat
         # for Python3:
         # except FileNotFoundError as e:
-
         except OSError as e:
             if e.errno == errno.ENOENT:
                 return False, "Can't find dig installed in the path (usually /usr/bin/dig). If " \
diff --git a/contrib/linux/tests/test_action_dig.py b/contrib/linux/tests/test_action_dig.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4f363521d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/linux/tests/test_action_dig.py
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+# Copyright 2020 The StackStorm Authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from __future__ import absolute_import
+from st2tests.base import BaseActionTestCase
+
+from dig import DigAction
+
+
+class DigActionTestCase(BaseActionTestCase):
+    action_cls = DigAction
+
+    def test_run_with_empty_hostname(self):
+        action = self.get_action_instance()
+
+        # Use the defaults from dig.yaml
+        result = action.run(rand=False, count=0, nameserver=None, hostname='', queryopts='short')
+        self.assertIsInstance(result, list)
+        self.assertEqual(len(result), 0)
+
+    def test_run_with_empty_queryopts(self):
+        action = self.get_action_instance()
+
+        results = action.run(rand=False, count=0, nameserver=None, hostname='google.com',
+                             queryopts='')
+        self.assertIsInstance(results, list)
+
+        for result in results:
+            self.assertIsInstance(result, str)
+            self.assertGreater(len(result), 0)
+
+    def test_run(self):
+        action = self.get_action_instance()
+
+        results = action.run(rand=False, count=0, nameserver=None, hostname='google.com',
+                             queryopts='short')
+        self.assertIsInstance(results, list)
+        self.assertGreater(len(results), 0)
+
+        for result in results:
+            self.assertIsInstance(result, str)
+            self.assertGreater(len(result), 0)