diff --git a/src/wp-includes/html-api/class-wp-html-tag-processor.php b/src/wp-includes/html-api/class-wp-html-tag-processor.php
index 77c1a471db5b1..af90a5ebcf18b 100644
--- a/src/wp-includes/html-api/class-wp-html-tag-processor.php
+++ b/src/wp-includes/html-api/class-wp-html-tag-processor.php
@@ -1621,7 +1621,7 @@ private function skip_script_data(): bool {
 				( 'p' === $html[ $at + 4 ] || 'P' === $html[ $at + 4 ] ) &&
 				( 't' === $html[ $at + 5 ] || 'T' === $html[ $at + 5 ] )
 			) ) {
-				++$at;
+				// Reconsume the current byte; it may be another `<` starting the real closer.
 				continue;
 			}
 
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/html-api/wpHtmlProcessor-serialize.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/html-api/wpHtmlProcessor-serialize.php
index e516addb6c314..8c4a6d247e5fc 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/html-api/wpHtmlProcessor-serialize.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/html-api/wpHtmlProcessor-serialize.php
@@ -121,6 +121,41 @@ public function test_script_contents_are_not_escaped() {
 		);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Ensures that text less-than sequences before the closing tag in special
+	 * text elements are not misclassified as incomplete tokens.
+	 *
+	 * @ticket 65372
+	 *
+	 * @dataProvider data_special_text_less_than_sequences_before_closer
+	 *
+	 * @param string $html HTML containing a special text element with text that looks like markup.
+	 */
+	public function test_special_text_less_than_sequences_before_closer_are_not_incomplete( string $html ) {
+		$this->assertSame(
+			WP_HTML_Processor::normalize( $html ),
+			$html,
+			'Should have preserved the element and its text content.'
+		);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Data provider.
+	 *
+	 * @return array[]
+	 */
+	public static function data_special_text_less_than_sequences_before_closer() {
+		return array(
+			'Less-than sign before closer'           => array( '<script><</script>' ),
+			'End-tag opener text before closer'      => array( '<script></</script>' ),
+			'Less-than sign and space before close'  => array( '<script>< </script>' ),
+			'Multiple less-than signs before close'  => array( '<script><<</script>' ),
+			'Markup declaration opener before close' => array( '<script><!</script>' ),
+			'Tag-like text before close'             => array( '<script><x</script>' ),
+			'STYLE less-than sign before closer'     => array( '<style><</style>' ),
+		);
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Ensures that STYLE contents are not escaped, as they are not parsed like text nodes are.
 	 *
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/tests/html-api/wpHtmlTagProcessor.php b/tests/phpunit/tests/html-api/wpHtmlTagProcessor.php
index 22ace3890f469..33eb2d0e851a6 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/tests/html-api/wpHtmlTagProcessor.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/tests/html-api/wpHtmlTagProcessor.php
@@ -2116,6 +2116,8 @@ public static function data_script_tag(): Generator {
 			yield 'Script tag with </script\f> close'             => array( "<script></script\f>", true );
 			yield 'Script tag with </script\r> close'             => array( "<script></script\r>", true );
 			yield 'Script with type attribute'                    => array( '<script type="text/javascript"></script>', true );
+			yield 'Script text less-than sign before close'       => array( '<script><</script>', true );
+			yield 'Script text end-tag opener before close'       => array( '<script></</script>', true );
 			yield 'Script data escaped'                           => array( '<script><!--</script>', true );
 			yield 'Script data double-escaped exit (comment)'     => array( '<script><!--<script>--></script>', true );
 			yield 'Script data double-escaped exit (closed ">")'  => array( '<script><!--<script></script></script>', true );