diff --git a/src/pkg/exp/template/html/escape.go b/src/pkg/exp/template/html/escape.go
index aa5427c098..5ea819fc50 100644
--- a/src/pkg/exp/template/html/escape.go
+++ b/src/pkg/exp/template/html/escape.go
@@ -598,6 +598,9 @@ func (e *escaper) escapeText(c context, n *parse.TextNode) context {
 			b.Write(s[written:cs])
 			written = i1
 		}
+		if i == i1 && c.state == c1.state {
+			panic(fmt.Sprintf("infinite loop from %v to %v on %q..%q", c, c1, s[:i], s[i:]))
+		}
 		c, i = c1, i1
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/pkg/exp/template/html/escape_test.go b/src/pkg/exp/template/html/escape_test.go
index a3dab4cc85..da3c011961 100644
--- a/src/pkg/exp/template/html/escape_test.go
+++ b/src/pkg/exp/template/html/escape_test.go
@@ -904,6 +904,10 @@ func TestErrors(t *testing.T) {
 			`<a style=font:'Arial'>`,
 			`exp/template/html:z: "'" in unquoted attr: "font:'Arial'"`,
 		},
+		{
+			`<a=foo>`,
+			`: expected space, attr name, or end of tag, but got "=foo>"`,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {
diff --git a/src/pkg/exp/template/html/transition.go b/src/pkg/exp/template/html/transition.go
index 15548043b6..b8e02b239c 100644
--- a/src/pkg/exp/template/html/transition.go
+++ b/src/pkg/exp/template/html/transition.go
@@ -100,26 +100,30 @@ func tTag(c context, s []byte) (context, int) {
 		return context{state: stateError, err: err}, len(s)
 	}
 	state, attr := stateTag, attrNone
-	if i != j {
-		canonAttrName := strings.ToLower(string(s[i:j]))
-		switch attrType[canonAttrName] {
-		case contentTypeURL:
-			attr = attrURL
-		case contentTypeCSS:
-			attr = attrStyle
-		case contentTypeJS:
+	if i == j {
+		return context{
+			state: stateError,
+			err:   errorf(ErrBadHTML, 0, "expected space, attr name, or end of tag, but got %q", s[i:]),
+		}, len(s)
+	}
+	canonAttrName := strings.ToLower(string(s[i:j]))
+	switch attrType[canonAttrName] {
+	case contentTypeURL:
+		attr = attrURL
+	case contentTypeCSS:
+		attr = attrStyle
+	case contentTypeJS:
+		attr = attrScript
+	default:
+		if strings.HasPrefix(canonAttrName, "on") {
 			attr = attrScript
-		default:
-			if strings.HasPrefix(canonAttrName, "on") {
-				attr = attrScript
-			}
-		}
-		if j == len(s) {
-			state = stateAttrName
-		} else {
-			state = stateAfterName
 		}
 	}
+	if j == len(s) {
+		state = stateAttrName
+	} else {
+		state = stateAfterName
+	}
 	return context{state: state, element: c.element, attr: attr}, j
 }