diff --git a/src/manipulation.js b/src/manipulation.js
index f86bd9ab0..19c60fcbc 100644
--- a/src/manipulation.js
+++ b/src/manipulation.js
@@ -25,9 +25,7 @@ var
 
 	// Support: IE <=10 - 11+
 	// In IE using regex groups here causes severe slowdowns.
-	rnoInnerhtml = /<script|<style|<link/i,
-
-	rcleanScript = /^\s*<!(?:\[CDATA\[|--)|(?:\]\]|--)>\s*$/g;
+	rnoInnerhtml = /<script|<style|<link/i;
 
 // Prefer a tbody over its parent table for containing new rows
 function manipulationTarget( elem, content ) {
@@ -161,7 +159,7 @@ function domManip( collection, args, callback, ignored ) {
 								}, doc );
 							}
 						} else {
-							DOMEval( node.textContent.replace( rcleanScript, "" ), node, doc );
+							DOMEval( node.textContent, node, doc );
 						}
 					}
 				}
diff --git a/test/data/cleanScript.html b/test/data/cleanScript.html
index c37694aac..60d235b82 100644
--- a/test/data/cleanScript.html
+++ b/test/data/cleanScript.html
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ QUnit.assert.ok( true, "script within html comments executed" );
 -->
 </script>
 <script>
-<![CDATA[
+<!--//--><![CDATA[//><!--
 QUnit.assert.ok( true, "script within CDATA executed" );
-]]>
+//--><!]]>
 </script>
diff --git a/test/unit/manipulation.js b/test/unit/manipulation.js
index 131109448..8262516a9 100644
--- a/test/unit/manipulation.js
+++ b/test/unit/manipulation.js
@@ -2233,13 +2233,14 @@ QUnit.test( "domManip executes scripts containing html comments or CDATA (trac-9
 		"</script>"
 	].join( "\n" ) ).appendTo( "#qunit-fixture" );
 
-	jQuery( [
-		"<script type='text/javascript'>",
-		"<![CDATA[",
-		"QUnit.assert.ok( true, '<![CDATA[ handled' );",
-		"//]]>",
-		"</script>"
-	].join( "\n" ) ).appendTo( "#qunit-fixture" );
+	// This test requires XHTML mode as CDATA is not recognized in HTML.
+	// jQuery( [
+	// 	"<script type='text/javascript'>",
+	// 	"<![CDATA[",
+	// 	"QUnit.assert.ok( true, '<![CDATA[ handled' );",
+	// 	"//]]>",
+	// 	"</script>"
+	// ].join( "\n" ) ).appendTo( "#qunit-fixture" );
 
 	jQuery( [
 		"<script type='text/javascript'>",
@@ -2248,6 +2249,17 @@ QUnit.test( "domManip executes scripts containing html comments or CDATA (trac-9
 		"//--><!]]>",
 		"</script>"
 	].join( "\n" ) ).appendTo( "#qunit-fixture" );
+
+	// ES2015 in Annex B requires HTML-style comment delimiters (`<!--` & `-->`) to act as
+	// single-line comment delimiters; i.e. they should be treated as `//`.
+	// See gh-4904
+	jQuery( [
+		"<script type='text/javascript'>",
+		"<!-- Same-line HTML comment",
+		"QUnit.assert.ok( true, '<!-- Same-line HTML comment' );",
+		"-->",
+		"</script>"
+	].join( "\n" ) ).appendTo( "#qunit-fixture" );
 } );
 
 testIframe(