diff --git a/taskfile/ast/task.go b/taskfile/ast/task.go
index 9465c77770..d86ff0159d 100644
--- a/taskfile/ast/task.go
+++ b/taskfile/ast/task.go
@@ -87,7 +87,10 @@ func (t *Task) WildcardMatch(name string) (bool, []string) {
 	names := append([]string{t.Task}, t.Aliases...)
 
 	for _, taskName := range names {
-		regexStr := fmt.Sprintf("^%s$", strings.ReplaceAll(taskName, "*", "(.*)"))
+		// Escape regex metacharacters in the task name so a name like "c++" or
+		// "a.b" is matched literally (and doesn't panic in MustCompile); only
+		// "*" is a wildcard.
+		regexStr := fmt.Sprintf("^%s$", strings.ReplaceAll(regexp.QuoteMeta(taskName), `\*`, "(.*)"))
 		regex := regexp.MustCompile(regexStr)
 		wildcards := regex.FindStringSubmatch(name)
 
diff --git a/taskfile/ast/task_test.go b/taskfile/ast/task_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0083a537a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/taskfile/ast/task_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+package ast_test
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+
+	"github.com/go-task/task/v3/taskfile/ast"
+)
+
+func TestTaskWildcardMatch(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		taskName      string
+		call          string
+		wantMatch     bool
+		wantWildcards []string
+	}{
+		{"build-*", "build-foo", true, []string{"foo"}},
+		{"build-*-*", "build-foo-bar", true, []string{"foo", "bar"}},
+		{"build-*", "test-foo", false, nil},
+		// Regex metacharacters in the task name must be matched literally, not
+		// interpreted as regex (and must not panic in MustCompile).
+		{"c++", "c++", true, []string{}},
+		{"c++", "cxx", false, nil},
+		{"a.b", "axb", false, nil}, // '.' must not act as a wildcard
+		{"a.b", "a.b", true, []string{}},
+		{"deploy.prod", "deploy-prod", false, nil},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.taskName+"/"+tt.call, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+			task := &ast.Task{Task: tt.taskName}
+			match, wildcards := task.WildcardMatch(tt.call)
+			assert.Equal(t, tt.wantMatch, match)
+			assert.Equal(t, tt.wantWildcards, wildcards)
+		})
+	}
+}