diff --git a/Sources/_StringProcessing/ByteCodeGen.swift b/Sources/_StringProcessing/ByteCodeGen.swift
index e8c92f2b5..8d7224710 100644
--- a/Sources/_StringProcessing/ByteCodeGen.swift
+++ b/Sources/_StringProcessing/ByteCodeGen.swift
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ fileprivate extension Compiler.ByteCodeGen {
     }
 
     // Fast path for eliding boundary checks for an all ascii quoted literal
-    if optimizationsEnabled && s.allSatisfy(\.isASCII) {
+    if optimizationsEnabled && s.allSatisfy(\.isASCII) && !s.isEmpty {
       let lastIdx = s.unicodeScalars.indices.last!
       for idx in s.unicodeScalars.indices {
         let boundaryCheck = idx == lastIdx
@@ -1061,6 +1061,8 @@ extension DSLTree.Node {
     case .atom(let atom):
       switch atom {
       case .changeMatchingOptions, .assertion: return false
+      // Captures may be nil so backreferences may be zero length matches
+      case .backreference: return false
       default: return true
       }
     case .trivia, .empty:
diff --git a/Tests/RegexTests/MatchTests.swift b/Tests/RegexTests/MatchTests.swift
index 8e01582a9..f2a8f9e82 100644
--- a/Tests/RegexTests/MatchTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/RegexTests/MatchTests.swift
@@ -2465,6 +2465,9 @@ extension RegexTests {
 
     // case insensitive tests
     firstMatchTest(#"(?i)abc\u{301}d"#, input: "AbC\u{301}d", match: "AbC\u{301}d", semanticLevel: .unicodeScalar)
+
+    // check that we don't crash on empty strings
+    firstMatchTest(#"\Q\E"#, input: "", match: "")
   }
   
   func testCase() {
@@ -2534,4 +2537,8 @@ extension RegexTests {
     expectCompletion(regex: #"(a{,4})*"#, in: "aa")
     expectCompletion(regex: #"((|)+)*"#, in: "aa")
   }
+  
+  func testFuzzerArtifacts() throws {
+    expectCompletion(regex: #"(b?)\1*"#, in: "a")
+  }
 }