diff --git a/src/HtmlUtils.tsx b/src/HtmlUtils.tsx
index f925facaf0..71f3c9e079 100644
--- a/src/HtmlUtils.tsx
+++ b/src/HtmlUtils.tsx
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import { decode } from "html-entities";
 import { IContent } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/models/event";
 import { Optional } from "matrix-events-sdk";
 import _Linkify from "linkify-react";
+import escapeHtml from "escape-html";
 
 import {
     _linkifyElement,
@@ -355,10 +356,10 @@ abstract class BaseHighlighter<T extends React.ReactNode> {
     public constructor(public highlightClass: string, public highlightLink?: string) {}
 
     /**
-     * apply the highlights to a section of text
+     * Apply the highlights to a section of text
      *
      * @param {string} safeSnippet The snippet of text to apply the highlights
-     *     to.
+     *     to. This input must be sanitised as it will be treated as HTML.
      * @param {string[]} safeHighlights A list of substrings to highlight,
      *     sorted by descending length.
      *
@@ -367,7 +368,7 @@ abstract class BaseHighlighter<T extends React.ReactNode> {
      */
     public applyHighlights(safeSnippet: string, safeHighlights: string[]): T[] {
         let lastOffset = 0;
-        let offset;
+        let offset: number;
         let nodes: T[] = [];
 
         const safeHighlight = safeHighlights[0];
@@ -440,7 +441,7 @@ interface IOpts {
 }
 
 export interface IOptsReturnNode extends IOpts {
-    returnString: false | undefined;
+    returnString?: false | undefined;
 }
 
 export interface IOptsReturnString extends IOpts {
@@ -574,7 +575,7 @@ export function bodyToHtml(content: IContent, highlights: Optional<string[]>, op
                 safeBody = formatEmojis(safeBody, true).join("");
             }
         } else if (highlighter) {
-            safeBody = highlighter.applyHighlights(plainBody, safeHighlights!).join("");
+            safeBody = highlighter.applyHighlights(escapeHtml(plainBody), safeHighlights!).join("");
         }
     } finally {
         delete sanitizeParams.textFilter;
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/SearchResultTile.tsx b/src/components/views/rooms/SearchResultTile.tsx
index be15ea9694..6ddb7f1067 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/SearchResultTile.tsx
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/SearchResultTile.tsx
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ export default class SearchResultTile extends React.Component<IProps> {
 
         for (let j = 0; j < timeline.length; j++) {
             const mxEv = timeline[j];
-            let highlights;
+            let highlights: string[] | undefined;
             const contextual = !this.props.ourEventsIndexes.includes(j);
             if (!contextual) {
                 highlights = this.props.searchHighlights;
diff --git a/test/HtmlUtils-test.tsx b/test/HtmlUtils-test.tsx
index 8baeea446a..d63470e122 100644
--- a/test/HtmlUtils-test.tsx
+++ b/test/HtmlUtils-test.tsx
@@ -14,11 +14,12 @@ See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
 */
 
-import React from "react";
+import React, { ReactElement } from "react";
 import { mocked } from "jest-mock";
 import { render, screen } from "@testing-library/react";
+import { IContent } from "matrix-js-sdk/src/models/event";
 
-import { topicToHtml } from "../src/HtmlUtils";
+import { bodyToHtml, topicToHtml } from "../src/HtmlUtils";
 import SettingsStore from "../src/settings/SettingsStore";
 
 jest.mock("../src/settings/SettingsStore");
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ const enableHtmlTopicFeature = () => {
     });
 };
 
-describe("HtmlUtils", () => {
+describe("topicToHtml", () => {
     function getContent() {
         return screen.getByRole("contentinfo").children[0].innerHTML;
     }
@@ -62,3 +63,47 @@ describe("HtmlUtils", () => {
         expect(getContent()).toEqual('<b>pizza</b> <span class="mx_Emoji" title=":pizza:">🍕</span>');
     });
 });
+
+describe("bodyToHtml", () => {
+    function getHtml(content: IContent, highlights?: string[]): string {
+        return (bodyToHtml(content, highlights, {}) as ReactElement).props.dangerouslySetInnerHTML.__html;
+    }
+
+    it("should apply highlights to HTML messages", () => {
+        const html = getHtml(
+            {
+                body: "test **foo** bar",
+                msgtype: "m.text",
+                formatted_body: "test <b>foo</b> bar",
+                format: "org.matrix.custom.html",
+            },
+            ["test"],
+        );
+
+        expect(html).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`"<span class="mx_EventTile_searchHighlight">test</span> <b>foo</b> bar"`);
+    });
+
+    it("should apply highlights to plaintext messages", () => {
+        const html = getHtml(
+            {
+                body: "test foo bar",
+                msgtype: "m.text",
+            },
+            ["test"],
+        );
+
+        expect(html).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`"<span class="mx_EventTile_searchHighlight">test</span> foo bar"`);
+    });
+
+    it("should not respect HTML tags in plaintext message highlighting", () => {
+        const html = getHtml(
+            {
+                body: "test foo <b>bar",
+                msgtype: "m.text",
+            },
+            ["test"],
+        );
+
+        expect(html).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`"<span class="mx_EventTile_searchHighlight">test</span> foo &lt;b&gt;bar"`);
+    });
+});