diff --git a/src/lib/markbind/src/lib/markdown-it/markdown-it-escape-special-tags.js b/src/lib/markbind/src/lib/markdown-it/markdown-it-escape-special-tags.js
index d0b31c2a9b..9b82e4d7d5 100644
--- a/src/lib/markbind/src/lib/markdown-it/markdown-it-escape-special-tags.js
+++ b/src/lib/markbind/src/lib/markdown-it/markdown-it-escape-special-tags.js
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ function escape_plugin(md, tagsToIgnore) {
   const HTML_OPEN_CLOSE_TAG_RE = require('markdown-it/lib/common/html_re').HTML_OPEN_CLOSE_TAG_RE;
 
   const specialTagsRegex = Array.from(tagsToIgnore)
-    .concat(['script|pre|style'])
+    .concat(['script|pre|style|variable'])
     .join('|');
   const startingSpecialTagRegex = new RegExp(`^<(${specialTagsRegex})(?=(\\s|>|$))`, 'i');
   const endingSpecialTagRegex = new RegExp(`<\\/(${specialTagsRegex})>`, 'i');
diff --git a/src/lib/markbind/src/patches/htmlparser2.js b/src/lib/markbind/src/patches/htmlparser2.js
index 53ba30a04d..526e3b7db2 100644
--- a/src/lib/markbind/src/patches/htmlparser2.js
+++ b/src/lib/markbind/src/patches/htmlparser2.js
@@ -110,6 +110,12 @@ var i = 0,
 	NO_MATCH                  = -2,
 	HAS_MATCHED               = -3;
 
+const DEFAULT_SPECIAL_TAGS = [
+	'script',
+	'style',
+	'variable',
+];
+
 function whitespace(c) {
 	return c === " " || c === "\n" || c === "\t" || c === "\f" || c === "\r";
 }
@@ -149,10 +155,7 @@ Tokenizer.prototype._stateText = function(c) {
 };
 
 
-Tokenizer.prototype.specialTagNames = [
-	'script',
-	'style',
-];
+Tokenizer.prototype.specialTagNames = [...DEFAULT_SPECIAL_TAGS];
 
 /**
  * Checks whether the token matches one of the first characters of the special tags,
@@ -485,7 +488,7 @@ Tokenizer.prototype._parse = function(){
  * Injects the tagsToIgnore into the Tokenizer's specialTagNames.
  */
 function injectIgnoreTags(tagsToIgnore) {
-	Tokenizer.prototype.specialTagNames = ['script', 'style', ...tagsToIgnore];
+	Tokenizer.prototype.specialTagNames = [...DEFAULT_SPECIAL_TAGS, ...tagsToIgnore];
 }
 
 module.exports = injectIgnoreTags;