diff --git a/src/basic/terminal-util.c b/src/basic/terminal-util.c
index 4c1824bc83..8b5a9fa8c6 100644
--- a/src/basic/terminal-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/terminal-util.c
@@ -1581,6 +1581,7 @@ typedef enum BackgroundColorState {
         BACKGROUND_RED,
         BACKGROUND_GREEN,
         BACKGROUND_BLUE,
+        BACKGROUND_STRING_TERMINATOR,
 } BackgroundColorState;
 
 typedef struct BackgroundColorContext {
@@ -1672,7 +1673,9 @@ static int scan_background_color_response(
                                         return 1; /* success! */
 
                                 context->state = BACKGROUND_TEXT;
-                        } else {
+                        } else if (c == '\x1b')
+                                context->state = context->blue_bits > 0 ? BACKGROUND_STRING_TERMINATOR : BACKGROUND_TEXT;
+                        else {
                                 int d = unhexchar(c);
                                 if (d < 0 || context->blue_bits >= sizeof(context->blue)*8)
                                         context->state = BACKGROUND_TEXT;
@@ -1682,10 +1685,18 @@ static int scan_background_color_response(
                                 }
                         }
                         break;
+
+                case BACKGROUND_STRING_TERMINATOR:
+                        if (c == '\\')
+                                return 1; /* success! */
+
+                        context->state = c == ']' ? BACKGROUND_ESCAPE : BACKGROUND_TEXT;
+                        break;
+
                 }
 
                 /* Reset any colors we might have picked up */
-                if (context->state == BACKGROUND_TEXT) {
+                if (IN_SET(context->state, BACKGROUND_TEXT, BACKGROUND_ESCAPE)) {
                         /* reset color */
                         context->red = context->green = context->blue = 0;
                         context->red_bits = context->green_bits = context->blue_bits = 0;
@@ -1744,6 +1755,10 @@ int get_default_background_color(double *ret_red, double *ret_green, double *ret
                 r = fd_wait_for_event(STDIN_FILENO, POLLIN, usec_sub_unsigned(end, n));
                 if (r < 0)
                         goto finish;
+                if (r == 0) {
+                        r = -EOPNOTSUPP;
+                        goto finish;
+                }
 
                 ssize_t l;
                 l = read(STDIN_FILENO, buf, sizeof(buf) - buf_full);
diff --git a/src/shared/ptyfwd.c b/src/shared/ptyfwd.c
index f910f3aaf9..17c1549132 100644
--- a/src/shared/ptyfwd.c
+++ b/src/shared/ptyfwd.c
@@ -270,7 +270,9 @@ static int insert_newline_color_erase(PTYForward *f, size_t offset) {
         _cleanup_free_ char *s = NULL;
 
         assert(f);
-        assert(f->background_color);
+
+        if (!f->background_color)
+                return 0;
 
         /* When we see a newline (ASCII 10) then this sets the background color to the desired one, and erase the rest
          * of the line with it */
@@ -289,7 +291,9 @@ static int insert_carriage_return_color(PTYForward *f, size_t offset) {
         _cleanup_free_ char *s = NULL;
 
         assert(f);
-        assert(f->background_color);
+
+        if (!f->background_color)
+                return 0;
 
         /* When we see a carriage return (ASCII 13) this this sets only the background */
 
@@ -503,9 +507,15 @@ static int pty_forward_ansi_process(PTYForward *f, size_t offset) {
                                 } else if (!strextend(&f->osc_sequence, CHAR_TO_STR(c)))
                                         return -ENOMEM;
                         } else {
-                                /* Otherwise, the OSC sequence is over */
+                                /* Otherwise, the OSC sequence is over
+                                 *
+                                 * There are two allowed ways to end an OSC sequence:
+                                 * BEL '\x07'
+                                 * String Terminator (ST): <Esc>\ - "\x1b\x5c"
+                                 * since we cannot lookahead to see if the Esc is followed by a \
+                                 * we cut a corner here and assume it will be \. */
 
-                                if (c == '\x07') {
+                                if (c == '\x07' || c == '\x1b') {
                                         r = insert_window_title_fix(f, i+1);
                                         if (r < 0)
                                                 return r;