diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/Functions.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/Functions.java
index 6da1f22e42..2d47c1b9c2 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/Functions.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/Functions.java
@@ -347,6 +347,10 @@ public class Functions {
         return Util.escape(s);
     }
 
+    public static String xmlEscape(String s) {
+        return Util.xmlEscape(s);
+    }
+
     public static void adminCheck(StaplerRequest req, StaplerResponse rsp, Object required) throws IOException, ServletException {
         if(required!=null && !Hudson.adminCheck(req,rsp)) {
             // check failed
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/Util.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/Util.java
index 243e3e8577..987a0832cd 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/Util.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/Util.java
@@ -392,6 +392,21 @@ public class Util {
         return buf.toString();
     }
 
+    public static String xmlEscape(String text) {
+        StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer(text.length()+64);
+        for( int i=0; i<text.length(); i++ ) {
+            char ch = text.charAt(i);
+            if(ch=='<')
+                buf.append("&lt;");
+            else
+            if(ch=='&')
+                buf.append("&amp;");
+            else
+                buf.append(ch);
+        }
+        return buf.toString();
+    }
+
     private static char toDigit(int n) {
         char ch = Character.forDigit(n,16);
         if(ch>='a')     ch = (char)(ch-'a'+'A');