diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/XmlValidationModeDetector.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/XmlValidationModeDetector.java
index 3c78313bd0d5..31671eabe73b 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/XmlValidationModeDetector.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/util/xml/XmlValidationModeDetector.java
@@ -151,7 +151,9 @@ private boolean hasOpeningTag(String content) {
 	private String consumeCommentTokens(String line) {
 		int indexOfStartComment = line.indexOf(START_COMMENT);
 		if (indexOfStartComment == -1 && !line.contains(END_COMMENT)) {
-			return line;
+			// If we are inside a multi-line comment, the entire line is comment
+			// data and must not be treated as content.
+			return (this.inComment ? "" : line);
 		}
 
 		String result = "";
diff --git a/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/xml/XmlValidationModeDetectorTests.java b/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/xml/XmlValidationModeDetectorTests.java
index 9714eef1c649..dcdcf3e49d0e 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/xml/XmlValidationModeDetectorTests.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/util/xml/XmlValidationModeDetectorTests.java
@@ -55,7 +55,8 @@ void dtdDetection(String fileName) throws Exception {
 		"xsdWithNoComments.xml",
 		"xsdWithMultipleComments.xml",
 		"xsdWithDoctypeInComment.xml",
-		"xsdWithDoctypeInOpenCommentWithAdditionalCommentOnSameLine.xml"
+		"xsdWithDoctypeInOpenCommentWithAdditionalCommentOnSameLine.xml",
+		"xsdWithDoctypeInMultiLineCommentBody.xml"
 	})
 	void xsdDetection(String fileName) throws Exception {
 		assertValidationMode(fileName, VALIDATION_XSD);
diff --git a/spring-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/util/xml/xsdWithDoctypeInMultiLineCommentBody.xml b/spring-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/util/xml/xsdWithDoctypeInMultiLineCommentBody.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2a34756ee05d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/util/xml/xsdWithDoctypeInMultiLineCommentBody.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+	See the DOCTYPE notes for legacy configs
+-->
+<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="https://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
+		https://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd">
+
+</beans>