Fixes #11555: Avoid inadvertent interpretation of search query as regular expression under global search

docs/release-notes/version-3.4.md

@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 ## v3.4.4 (FUTURE)
 
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* [#11555](https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/issues/11555) - Avoid inadvertent interpretation of search query as regular expression under global search (previously [#11516](https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/issues/11516))
+
 ---
 
 ## v3.4.3 (2023-01-20)
@@ -34,7 +38,7 @@
 * [#11483](https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/issues/11483) - Apply configured formatting to custom date fields
 * [#11488](https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/issues/11488) - Add missing `description` fields to several REST API serializers
 * [#11497](https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/issues/11497) - Enforce `run_script` permission when executing scripts via REST API
-* [#11516](https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/issues/11516) - Prevent text highlight utility from interpreting match as regex
+* ~[#11516](https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/issues/11516) - Prevent text highlight utility from interpreting match as regex~
 * [#11522](https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/issues/11522) - Correct tag links under contact & tenant list views
 * [#11544](https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/issues/11544) - Catch ValidationError exception when filtering by invalid MAC address
 

netbox/utilities/utils.py

@@ -527,6 +527,7 @@ def highlight_string(value, highlight, trim_pre=None, trim_post=None, trim_place
         if type(highlight) is re.Pattern:
             pre, match, post = highlight.split(value, maxsplit=1)
         else:
+            highlight = re.escape(highlight)
             pre, match, post = re.split(fr'({highlight})', value, maxsplit=1, flags=re.IGNORECASE)
     except ValueError as e:
         # Match not found