diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/ScriptBinding.py b/Lib/idlelib/ScriptBinding.py
index 1139b307849..4c6dc82e0f8 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/ScriptBinding.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/ScriptBinding.py
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ class ScriptBinding:
             try:
                 # If successful, return the compiled code
                 return compile(source, filename, "exec")
-            except (SyntaxError, OverflowError), err:
+            except (SyntaxError, OverflowError, ValueError), err:
                 try:
                     msg, (errorfilename, lineno, offset, line) = err
                     if not errorfilename:
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 8d37ca52aba..a208309ddf3 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -79,6 +79,9 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #8793: Prevent IDLE crash when given strings with invalid hex escape
+  sequences.
+
 - Issues #1745761, #755670, #13357, #12629, #1200313: HTMLParser now correctly
   handles non-valid attributes, including adjacent and unquoted attributes.