diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 22aadd5..72f8f1b 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ env: LIBGIT2=~/libgit2/_install/ LD_LIBRARY_PATH=~/libgit2/_install/lib
 
 before_install:
   - sudo apt-get install cmake
-  - pip install cffi==1.9.1
+  - pip install cffi
   - "./.travis.sh"
 
 script:
diff --git a/pygit2/repository.py b/pygit2/repository.py
index 9377aa2..472f4ff 100644
--- a/pygit2/repository.py
+++ b/pygit2/repository.py
@@ -692,7 +692,11 @@ class BaseRepository(_Repository):
         if describe_strategy is not None:
             options.describe_strategy = describe_strategy
         if pattern:
-            options.pattern = ffi.new('char[]', to_bytes(pattern))
+            # The returned pointer object has ownership on the allocated
+            # memory. Make sure it is kept alive until git_describe_commit() or
+            # git_describe_workdir() are called below.
+            pattern_char = ffi.new('char[]', to_bytes(pattern))
+            options.pattern = pattern_char
         if only_follow_first_parent is not None:
             options.only_follow_first_parent = only_follow_first_parent
         if show_commit_oid_as_fallback is not None:
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index f4a9f8c..18d3eb0 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -203,8 +203,8 @@ setup(name='pygit2',
       long_description=long_description,
       packages=['pygit2'],
       package_data={'pygit2': ['decl.h']},
-      setup_requires=['cffi<1.10'],
-      install_requires=['cffi<1.10', 'six'],
+      setup_requires=['cffi'],
+      install_requires=['cffi', 'six'],
       zip_safe=False,
       cmdclass=cmdclass,
       **extra_args)