diff --git a/mysys/charset.c b/mysys/charset.c
index cb2379f8723..5587a6d685f 100644
--- a/mysys/charset.c
+++ b/mysys/charset.c
@@ -581,6 +581,23 @@ ulong escape_string_for_mysql(CHARSET_INFO *charset_info, char *to,
       from--;
       continue;
     }
+    /*
+     If the next character appears to begin a multi-byte character, we
+     escape that first byte of that apparent multi-byte character. (The
+     character just looks like a multi-byte character -- if it were actually
+     a multi-byte character, it would have been passed through in the test
+     above.)
+
+     Without this check, we can create a problem by converting an invalid
+     multi-byte character into a valid one. For example, 0xbf27 is not
+     a valid GBK character, but 0xbf5c is. (0x27 = ', 0x5c = \)
+    */
+    if (use_mb_flag && (l= my_mbcharlen(charset_info, *from)) > 1)
+    {
+      *to++= '\\';
+      *to++= *from;
+      continue;
+    }
 #endif
     switch (*from) {
     case 0:				/* Must be escaped for 'mysql' */
diff --git a/tests/mysql_client_test.c b/tests/mysql_client_test.c
index 14b3ddbf8b2..3974bacc2eb 100644
--- a/tests/mysql_client_test.c
+++ b/tests/mysql_client_test.c
@@ -11605,6 +11605,54 @@ static void test_bug7990()
 }
 
 
+/*
+ Test mysql_real_escape_string() with gbk charset
+
+ The important part is that 0x27 (') is the second-byte in a invalid
+ two-byte GBK character here. But 0xbf5c is a valid GBK character, so
+ it needs to be escaped as 0x5cbf27
+*/
+#define TEST_BUG8378_IN  "\xef\xbb\xbf\x27\xbf\x10"
+#define TEST_BUG8378_OUT "\xef\xbb\x5c\xbf\x5c\x27\x5c\xbf\x10"
+
+static void test_bug8378()
+{
+  MYSQL *lmysql;
+  char out[9]; /* strlen(TEST_BUG8378)*2+1 */
+  int len;
+
+  myheader("test_bug8378");
+
+  if (!opt_silent)
+    fprintf(stdout, "\n Establishing a test connection ...");
+  if (!(lmysql= mysql_init(NULL)))
+  {
+    myerror("mysql_init() failed");
+    exit(1);
+  }
+  if (mysql_options(lmysql, MYSQL_SET_CHARSET_NAME, "gbk"))
+  {
+    myerror("mysql_options() failed");
+    exit(1);
+  }
+  if (!(mysql_real_connect(lmysql, opt_host, opt_user,
+                           opt_password, current_db, opt_port,
+                           opt_unix_socket, 0)))
+  {
+    myerror("connection failed");
+    exit(1);
+  }
+  if (!opt_silent)
+    fprintf(stdout, " OK");
+
+  len= mysql_real_escape_string(lmysql, out, TEST_BUG8378_IN, 4);
+
+  /* No escaping should have actually happened. */
+  DIE_UNLESS(memcmp(out, TEST_BUG8378_OUT, len) == 0);
+
+  mysql_close(lmysql);
+}
+
 /*
   Read and parse arguments and MySQL options from my.cnf
 */
@@ -11814,6 +11862,7 @@ static struct my_tests_st my_tests[]= {
   { "test_bug6761", test_bug6761 },
   { "test_bug8330", test_bug8330 },
   { "test_bug7990", test_bug7990 },
+  { "test_bug8378", test_bug8378 },
   { 0, 0 }
 };