diff --git a/repos/base/include/util/token.h b/repos/base/include/util/token.h
index 9365d1e89d..a5a14826cf 100644
--- a/repos/base/include/util/token.h
+++ b/repos/base/include/util/token.h
@@ -90,7 +90,9 @@ class Genode::Token
 		/**
 		 * Return true if token is valid
 		 */
-		operator bool () const { return _start && _len; }
+		bool valid() const { return _start && _len; }
+
+		operator bool () const { return valid(); }
 
 		/**
 		 * Access single characters of token
@@ -105,6 +107,37 @@ class Genode::Token
 		 */
 		Token next() const { return Token(_start + _len, _max_len - _len); }
 
+		/**
+		 * Return next token after delimiter
+		 */
+		Token next_after(char const *delim)
+		{
+			size_t const len = strlen(delim);
+
+			if (!valid() || len > _max_len)
+				return Token();
+
+			char const *s = _start;
+			for (size_t rest = _max_len; rest >= len; --rest, ++s)
+				if (strcmp(s, delim, len) == 0)
+					return Token(s, rest).next();
+
+			return Token();
+		}
+
+		/**
+		 * Return true if token starts with pattern
+		 */
+		bool matches(char const *pattern)
+		{
+			size_t const len = strlen(pattern);
+
+			if (!valid() || len > _max_len)
+				return false;
+
+			return strcmp(pattern, _start, len) == 0;
+		}
+
 		/**
 		 * Return next non-whitespace token
 		 */
diff --git a/repos/base/include/util/xml_node.h b/repos/base/include/util/xml_node.h
index 537869e77b..2c39496bad 100644
--- a/repos/base/include/util/xml_node.h
+++ b/repos/base/include/util/xml_node.h
@@ -346,20 +346,6 @@ class Genode::Xml_node
 				Token _next;   /* token following the comment */
 				bool  _valid;  /* true if comment is well formed */
 
-				/**
-				 * Check if token sequence matches specified character sequence
-				 *
-				 * \param t  start of token sequence
-				 * \param s  null-terminated character sequence
-				 */
-				static bool _match(Token t, const char *s)
-				{
-					for (int i = 0; s[i]; t = t.next(), i++)
-						if (t[0] != s[i])
-							return false;
-					return true;
-				}
-
 			public:
 
 				/**
@@ -369,18 +355,16 @@ class Genode::Xml_node
 				 */
 				Comment(Token t) : _valid(false)
 				{
-					/* check for comment-start tag */
-					if (!_match(t, "<!--"))
+					/* check for comment start */
+					if (!t.matches("<!--"))
 						return;
 
-					/* search for comment-end tag */
-					for ( ; t && !_match(t, "-->"); t = t.next());
+					/* skip four single characters for "<!--" */
+					t = t.next().next().next().next();
 
-					if (t.type() == Token::END)
-						return;
-
-					_next  = t.next().next().next();
-					_valid = true;
+					/* find token after comment delimiter */
+					_next  = t.next_after("-->");
+					_valid = _next.valid();
 				}
 
 				/**
diff --git a/repos/os/run/xml_node.run b/repos/os/run/xml_node.run
index 48325dda53..2847fbdbbf 100644
--- a/repos/os/run/xml_node.run
+++ b/repos/os/run/xml_node.run
@@ -23,4 +23,94 @@ append qemu_args "-nographic -m 64"
 
 run_genode_until {.*child "test-xml_node" exited with exit value 0.*\n} 10
 
-puts "Test succeeded"
+# pay only attention to the output of init and its children
+grep_output {^\[init \-\> test\-xml_node\]}
+trim_lines
+
+compare_output_to {
+[init -> test-xml_node] --- XML-token test ---
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content="<"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="IDENT", len=6, content="config"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content=">"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="WHITESPACE", len=2, content="  "
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="IDENT", len=9, content="sometext1"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="WHITESPACE", len=2, content="  "
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content="<"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="IDENT", len=7, content="program"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="WHITESPACE", len=1, content=" "
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="IDENT", len=4, content="attr"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content="="
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="STRING", len=6, content=""abcd""
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content="/"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content=">"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="WHITESPACE", len=2, content="  "
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="IDENT", len=9, content="sometext2"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="WHITESPACE", len=2, content="  "
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content="<"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="IDENT", len=7, content="program"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content=">"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="IDENT", len=9, content="inProgram"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content="<"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content="/"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="IDENT", len=7, content="program"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content=">"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="WHITESPACE", len=2, content="  "
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="IDENT", len=9, content="sometext3"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content="<"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content="/"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="IDENT", len=6, content="config"
+[init -> test-xml_node] token type="SINGLECHAR", len=1, content=">"
+[init -> test-xml_node] --- XML-parser test ---
+[init -> test-xml_node] -- Test valid XML structure --
+[init -> test-xml_node] XML node: name = "config", number of subnodes = 3
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "program", number of subnodes = 2
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "filename", leaf content = "init"
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "quota", leaf content = "16M"
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "program", number of subnodes = 2
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "filename", leaf content = "timer"
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "quota", leaf content = "64K"
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "program", number of subnodes = 2
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "filename", leaf content = "framebuffer"
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "quota", leaf content = "8M"
+[init -> test-xml_node] -- Test invalid XML structure (broken tag) --
+[init -> test-xml_node] XML node: name = "config", number of subnodes = 3
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "program", number of subnodes = 2
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "filename", leaf content = "init"
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "quota", leaf content = "16M"
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "program", number of subnodes = 2
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "filename", leaf content = "timer"
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "quota", leaf content = "64K"
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "program", number of subnodes = 2
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "filename", leaf content = "framebuffer"
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "quota", leaf content = "8M"
+[init -> test-xml_node] -- Test invalid XML structure (truncated) --
+[init -> test-xml_node] string has invalid XML syntax
+[init -> test-xml_node] -- Test invalid XML structure (truncated comment) --
+[init -> test-xml_node] string has invalid XML syntax
+[init -> test-xml_node] -- Test invalid XML structure (unfinished string) --
+[init -> test-xml_node] string has invalid XML syntax
+[init -> test-xml_node] -- Test node access by key --
+[init -> test-xml_node] content of sub node "filename" = "init"
+[init -> test-xml_node] content of sub node "quota" = "16M"
+[init -> test-xml_node] sub node "info" is not defined
+[init -> test-xml_node] -- Test access to XML attributes --
+[init -> test-xml_node] XML node: name = "config", number of subnodes = 3
+[init -> test-xml_node]   attribute name="priolevels", value="4"
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "program", number of subnodes = 2
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "filename", leaf content = "init"
+[init -> test-xml_node]     XML node: name = "quota", leaf content = "16M"
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "single-tag", leaf content = ""
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "single-tag-with-attr", leaf content = ""
+[init -> test-xml_node]     attribute name="name", value="ein_name"
+[init -> test-xml_node]     attribute name="quantum", value="2K"
+[init -> test-xml_node] -- Test parsing XML with nodes mixed with text --
+[init -> test-xml_node] XML node: name = "config", number of subnodes = 2
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "program", leaf content = ""
+[init -> test-xml_node]     attribute name="attr", value="abcd"
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "program", leaf content = "inProgram"
+[init -> test-xml_node] -- Test parsing XML with comments --
+[init -> test-xml_node] XML node: name = "config", number of subnodes = 2
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "visible-tag", leaf content = ""
+[init -> test-xml_node]   XML node: name = "visible-tag", leaf content = ""
+[init -> test-xml_node] --- End of XML-parser test ---
+}
diff --git a/repos/os/src/test/xml_node/test.cc b/repos/os/src/test/xml_node/test.cc
index 8d0a8dd512..2eeb3494a3 100644
--- a/repos/os/src/test/xml_node/test.cc
+++ b/repos/os/src/test/xml_node/test.cc
@@ -126,6 +126,17 @@ static const char *xml_test_text_between_nodes =
 	"  sometext3"
 	"</config>";
 
+/* strange but valid XML comments */
+static const char *xml_test_comments =
+	"<config>"
+	"<visible-tag/>"
+	"<!---->"
+	"<!-- <invisible-tag/> -->"
+	"<!--<invisible-tag/>-->"
+	"<!--invisible-tag></invisible-tag-->"
+	"<visible-tag/>"
+	"</config>";
+
 
 /******************
  ** Test program **
@@ -267,7 +278,7 @@ static void print_xml_info(const char *xml_string)
 int main()
 {
 	printf("--- XML-token test ---\n");
-        print_xml_tokens<Scanner_policy_identifier_with_underline>(xml_test_text_between_nodes);
+	print_xml_tokens<Scanner_policy_identifier_with_underline>(xml_test_text_between_nodes);
 
 	printf("--- XML-parser test ---\n");
 
@@ -298,6 +309,9 @@ int main()
 	printf("-- Test parsing XML with nodes mixed with text --\n");
 	print_xml_info(xml_test_text_between_nodes);
 
+	printf("-- Test parsing XML with comments --\n");
+	print_xml_info(xml_test_comments);
+
 	printf("--- End of XML-parser test ---\n");
 	return 0;
 }