diff --git a/plugins/Note/plugin.py b/plugins/Note/plugin.py
index e624e1a3e..e751b2318 100644
--- a/plugins/Note/plugin.py
+++ b/plugins/Note/plugin.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import operator
 import supybot.dbi as dbi
 import supybot.log as log
 import supybot.conf as conf
+from supybot import commands
 import supybot.utils as utils
 import supybot.ircdb as ircdb
 from supybot.commands import *
@@ -292,7 +293,8 @@ class Note(callbacks.Plugin):
         own = to
         for (option, arg) in optlist:
             if option == 'regexp':
-                criteria.append(arg.search)
+                criteria.append(lambda x: commands.regexp_wrapper(x, reobj=arg,
+                        timeout=0.1, plugin_name=self.name(), fcn_name='search'))
             elif option == 'sent':
                 own = frm
         if glob:
diff --git a/plugins/Todo/plugin.py b/plugins/Todo/plugin.py
index d30e37feb..b0038a7d6 100644
--- a/plugins/Todo/plugin.py
+++ b/plugins/Todo/plugin.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import operator
 
 import supybot.dbi as dbi
 import supybot.conf as conf
+from supybot import commands
 import supybot.ircdb as ircdb
 import supybot.utils as utils
 from supybot.commands import *
@@ -228,6 +229,8 @@ class Todo(callbacks.Plugin):
         criteria = []
         for (option, arg) in optlist:
             if option == 'regexp':
+                criteria.append(lambda x: commands.regexp_wrapper(x, reobj=arg,
+                        timeout=0.1, plugin_name=self.name(), fcn_name='search'))
                 criteria.append(arg.search)
         for glob in globs:
             glob = utils.python.glob2re(glob)
diff --git a/plugins/__init__.py b/plugins/__init__.py
index eeba620be..3ec8ce00b 100644
--- a/plugins/__init__.py
+++ b/plugins/__init__.py
@@ -419,7 +419,8 @@ class ChannelIdDatabasePlugin(callbacks.Plugin):
             if opt == 'by':
                 predicates.append(lambda r, arg=arg: r.by == arg.id)
             elif opt == 'regexp':
-                predicates.append(lambda r, arg=arg: arg.search(r.text))
+                predicates.append(lambda x: regexp_wrapper(x.text, reobj=arg,
+                        timeout=0.1, plugin_name=self.name(), fcn_name='search'))
         if glob:
             def globP(r, glob=glob.lower()):
                 return fnmatch.fnmatch(r.text.lower(), glob)
diff --git a/src/commands.py b/src/commands.py
index 983176751..ba0c3033b 100644
--- a/src/commands.py
+++ b/src/commands.py
@@ -98,6 +98,24 @@ def process(f, *args, **kwargs):
         v = "Error: " + str(v)
     return v
 
+def regexp_wrapper(s, reobj, timeout, plugin_name, fcn_name):
+    '''A convenient wrapper to stuff regexp search queries through a subprocess.
+
+    This is used because specially-crafted regexps can use exponential time
+    and hang the bot.'''
+    def re_bool(s, reobj):
+        """Since we can't enqueue match objects into the multiprocessing queue,
+        we'll just wrap the function to return bools."""
+        if reobj.search(s) is not None:
+            return True
+        else:
+            return False
+    try:
+        v = process(re_bool, s, reobj, timeout=timeout, pn=plugin_name, cn=fcn_name)
+        return v
+    except ProcessTimeoutError:
+        return False
+
 class UrlSnarfThread(world.SupyThread):
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         assert 'url' in kwargs