diff --git a/Toolset/palettes/script editor/behaviors/revsecommoneditorbehavior.livecodescript b/Toolset/palettes/script editor/behaviors/revsecommoneditorbehavior.livecodescript
index b24dd08a36..3e24fa9ed4 100644
--- a/Toolset/palettes/script editor/behaviors/revsecommoneditorbehavior.livecodescript	
+++ b/Toolset/palettes/script editor/behaviors/revsecommoneditorbehavior.livecodescript	
@@ -2051,6 +2051,26 @@ function autoCompleteIFsAreBalanced pLineNumber, pScript
    end repeat
 
    put line 1 to tCounter of pScript into pScript
+   
+   local tWorkText, tOldDelim
+
+   -- remove quoted literals
+   put the itemDelimiter into tOldDelim
+   set the itemDelimiter to quote
+   repeat for each line aLine in pScript
+      if aLine contains quote then
+         repeat with i = 1 to the number of items of aLine
+            if i mod 2 = 0 then
+               put empty into item i of aLine
+            end if
+         end repeat
+      end if
+      put aLine & cr after tWorkText
+   end repeat
+   delete char -1 of tWorkText
+   set the itemDelimiter to tOldDelim
+   put tWorkText into pScript
+
 
    -- remove slash asterisk comments
    local tBeginAsterix, tEndAsterix, tCharBegin, tCharEnd
@@ -2061,6 +2081,8 @@ function autoCompleteIFsAreBalanced pLineNumber, pScript
       put offset(tBeginAsterix, pScript) into tCharBegin
       if tCharBegin is 0 then exit repeat
       put offset(tEndAsterix, pScript) into tCharEnd
+      if tCharEnd = 0 then exit repeat
+      if tCharBegin > tCharEnd then exit repeat
       delete char tCharBegin to tCharEnd of pScript
    end repeat
 
diff --git a/notes/bugfix-22396.md b/notes/bugfix-22396.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8646854b94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/notes/bugfix-22396.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# Prevent hang of SE if literal "/*" is in script