'substitute*' fails to patch a binary and returns the following error

[...]

starting phase `pre-configure'
Backtrace:
In ice-9/boot-9.scm:
2320: 19 [save-module-excursion #<procedure 8e81de0 at ice-9/boot-9.scm:3961:3 ()>]
3966: 18 [#<procedure 8e81de0 at ice-9/boot-9.scm:3961:3 ()>]
1645: 17 [%start-stack load-stack ...]
1650: 16 [#<procedure 8e84df8 ()>]
In unknown file:
   ?: 15 [primitive-load "/nix/store/rcjkvdqp28dnp7igksnf3lzgwzxqvadb-ghc-bin-7.0.1-guile-builder"]
In ice-9/eval.scm:
 387: 14 [eval # ()]
In srfi/srfi-1.scm:
 830: 13 [every1 #<procedure 9090f10 at /nix/store/04z6assixr4ms2fmvm2m42aw1a8k07x5-module-import/guix/build/gnu-build-system.scm:364:9 (expr)> ...]
In /nix/store/04z6assixr4ms2fmvm2m42aw1a8k07x5-module-import/guix/build/gnu-build-system.scm:
 368: 12 [#<procedure 9090f10 at /nix/store/04z6assixr4ms2fmvm2m42aw1a8k07x5-module-import/guix/build/gnu-build-system.scm:364:9 (expr)> #]
In ice-9/eval.scm:
 432: 11 [eval # #]
In srfi/srfi-1.scm:
 616: 10 [for-each #<procedure 9097a98 at ice-9/eval.scm:416:20 (a)> #]
In ice-9/boot-9.scm:
 171: 9 [with-throw-handler #t ...]
 793: 8 [call-with-input-file "inplace/bin/ghc-cabal" ...]
In /nix/store/04z6assixr4ms2fmvm2m42aw1a8k07x5-module-import/guix/build/utils.scm:
 336: 7 [#<procedure 908b4e0 at /nix/store/04z6assixr4ms2fmvm2m42aw1a8k07x5-module-import/guix/build/utils.scm:335:10 (in)> #<input: inplace/bin/ghc-cabal 11>]
 361: 6 [#<procedure 9320fc0 at /nix/store/04z6assixr4ms2fmvm2m42aw1a8k07x5-module-import/guix/build/utils.scm:357:6 (in out)> #<input: inplace/bin/ghc-cabal 11> ...]
In srfi/srfi-1.scm:
 465: 5 [fold #<procedure 9026f40 at /nix/store/04z6assixr4ms2fmvm2m42aw1a8k07x5-module-import/guix/build/utils.scm:361:32 (r+p line)> ...]
In /nix/store/04z6assixr4ms2fmvm2m42aw1a8k07x5-module-import/guix/build/utils.scm:
 364: 4 [#<procedure 9026f40 at /nix/store/04z6assixr4ms2fmvm2m42aw1a8k07x5-module-import/guix/build/utils.scm:361:32 (r+p line)> # ...]
In ice-9/regex.scm:
 189: 3 [list-matches # ...]
 176: 2 [fold-matches # ...]
In unknown file:
   ?: 1 [regexp-exec # ...]
In ice-9/boot-9.scm:
 106: 0 [#<procedure 908b500 at ice-9/boot-9.scm:97:6 (thrown-k . args)> misc-error ...]

ice-9/boot-9.scm:106:20: In procedure #<procedure 908b500 at ice-9/boot-9.scm:97:6 (thrown-k . args)>:
ice-9/boot-9.scm:106:20: string contains #\nul character:

[...]