diff --git a/src/etc/inc/syslog.inc b/src/etc/inc/syslog.inc
index ca408853c3..5001f9730b 100644
--- a/src/etc/inc/syslog.inc
+++ b/src/etc/inc/syslog.inc
@@ -1411,7 +1411,7 @@ function buffer_rules_load() {
 				$buffer_rules_normal[$key] = str_replace(
 					RULE_LABEL_KEY_DESCRIPTION . RULE_LABEL_DELIMITER,
 					'',
-					$rule['labels']
+					htmlspecialchars($rule['labels'])
 				);
 				continue;
 			} elseif (!is_array($rule['labels'])) {
@@ -1424,13 +1424,13 @@ function buffer_rules_load() {
 					$buffer_rules_normal[$key] = str_replace(
 						RULE_LABEL_KEY_DESCRIPTION . RULE_LABEL_DELIMITER,
 						'',
-						$label
+						htmlspecialchars($label)
 					);
 				} elseif (str_starts_with($label, RULE_LABEL_KEY_TAGS . RULE_LABEL_DELIMITER)) {
 					$tags = explode(RULE_LABEL_TAG_DELIMITER, str_replace(
 						RULE_LABEL_KEY_TAGS . RULE_LABEL_DELIMITER,
 						'',
-						$label
+						htmlspecialchars($label)
 					));
 				}
 			}