diff --git a/packages/common/src/location/location.ts b/packages/common/src/location/location.ts
index 475d04bc402a..9532a34d4b91 100644
--- a/packages/common/src/location/location.ts
+++ b/packages/common/src/location/location.ts
@@ -301,9 +301,14 @@ export function createLocation() {
 }
 
 function _stripBasePath(basePath: string, url: string): string {
-  return basePath && new RegExp(`^${basePath}([/;?#]|$)`).test(url) ?
-      url.substring(basePath.length) :
-      url;
+  if (!basePath || !url.startsWith(basePath)) {
+    return url;
+  }
+  const strippedUrl = url.substring(basePath.length);
+  if (strippedUrl === '' || ['/', ';', '?', '#'].includes(strippedUrl[0])) {
+    return strippedUrl;
+  }
+  return url;
 }
 
 function _stripIndexHtml(url: string): string {
diff --git a/packages/common/test/location/location_spec.ts b/packages/common/test/location/location_spec.ts
index 9df67c5ab741..36d85aa324aa 100644
--- a/packages/common/test/location/location_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/common/test/location/location_spec.ts
@@ -286,5 +286,18 @@ describe('Location Class', () => {
       expect(location.normalize(baseHref + matrixParams)).toBe(matrixParams);
       expect(location.normalize(baseHref + fragment)).toBe(fragment);
     });
+
+    it('in case APP_BASE_HREF contains characters that have special meaning in a regex', () => {
+      const baseHref = 'c:/users/name(test)/en';
+      const path = '/test-path';
+
+      TestBed.configureTestingModule({providers: [{provide: APP_BASE_HREF, useValue: baseHref}]});
+
+      const location = TestBed.inject(Location);
+
+      expect(location.normalize(path)).toBe(path);
+      expect(location.normalize(baseHref)).toBe('');
+      expect(location.normalize(baseHref + path)).toBe(path);
+    });
   });
 });