diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index df9331a4b8ad..fc12e8684858 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Don’t detect arbitrary properties when preceded by an escape ([#15456](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/15456))
 - Fix incorrectly named `bg-round` and `bg-space` utilities to `bg-repeat-round` to `bg-repeat-space` ([#15462](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/15462))
 - Fix `inset-shadow-*` suggestions in IntelliSense ([#15471](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/15471))
+- Only compile arbitrary values ending in `]` ([#15503](https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss/pull/15503))
 
 ### Changed
 
diff --git a/packages/tailwindcss/src/candidate.test.ts b/packages/tailwindcss/src/candidate.test.ts
index 4242b11b7164..848590a46a88 100644
--- a/packages/tailwindcss/src/candidate.test.ts
+++ b/packages/tailwindcss/src/candidate.test.ts
@@ -540,6 +540,13 @@ it('should parse a utility with an arbitrary value', () => {
   `)
 })
 
+it('should not parse a utility with an incomplete arbitrary value', () => {
+  let utilities = new Utilities()
+  utilities.functional('bg', () => [])
+
+  expect(run('bg-[#0088cc', { utilities })).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`[]`)
+})
+
 it('should parse a utility with an arbitrary value with parens', () => {
   let utilities = new Utilities()
   utilities.functional('bg', () => [])
diff --git a/packages/tailwindcss/src/candidate.ts b/packages/tailwindcss/src/candidate.ts
index 26def1bff0ee..6c15b2ba6163 100644
--- a/packages/tailwindcss/src/candidate.ts
+++ b/packages/tailwindcss/src/candidate.ts
@@ -438,6 +438,9 @@ export function* parseCandidate(input: string, designSystem: DesignSystem): Iter
       let valueIsArbitrary = startArbitraryIdx !== -1
 
       if (valueIsArbitrary) {
+        // Arbitrary values must end with a `]`.
+        if (value[value.length - 1] !== ']') return
+
         let arbitraryValue = decodeArbitraryValue(value.slice(startArbitraryIdx + 1, -1))
 
         // Extract an explicit typehint if present, e.g. `bg-[color:var(--my-var)])`