diff --git a/src/display/xfa_layer.js b/src/display/xfa_layer.js
index 802634844..9f713edbe 100644
--- a/src/display/xfa_layer.js
+++ b/src/display/xfa_layer.js
@@ -176,8 +176,8 @@ class XfaLayer {
         linkService,
       });
     }
-    const stack = [[root, -1, rootHtml]];
 
+    const isNotForRichText = intent !== "richText";
     const rootDiv = parameters.div;
     rootDiv.append(rootHtml);
 
@@ -187,13 +187,28 @@ class XfaLayer {
     }
 
     // Set defaults.
-    if (intent !== "richText") {
+    if (isNotForRichText) {
       rootDiv.setAttribute("class", "xfaLayer xfaFont");
     }
 
     // Text nodes used for the text highlighter.
     const textDivs = [];
 
+    // In the rich text context, it's possible to just have a text node without
+    // a root element, so we handle this case here (see issue 17215).
+    if (root.children.length === 0) {
+      if (root.value) {
+        const node = document.createTextNode(root.value);
+        rootHtml.append(node);
+        if (isNotForRichText && XfaText.shouldBuildText(root.name)) {
+          textDivs.push(node);
+        }
+      }
+      return { textDivs };
+    }
+
+    const stack = [[root, -1, rootHtml]];
+
     while (stack.length > 0) {
       const [parent, i, html] = stack.at(-1);
       if (i + 1 === parent.children.length) {
@@ -233,7 +248,7 @@ class XfaLayer {
         stack.push([child, -1, childHtml]);
       } else if (child.value) {
         const node = document.createTextNode(child.value);
-        if (XfaText.shouldBuildText(name)) {
+        if (isNotForRichText && XfaText.shouldBuildText(name)) {
           textDivs.push(node);
         }
         childHtml.append(node);
diff --git a/test/pdfs/.gitignore b/test/pdfs/.gitignore
index 3eff1fe26..4101b2eb0 100644
--- a/test/pdfs/.gitignore
+++ b/test/pdfs/.gitignore
@@ -617,3 +617,5 @@
 !bug1851498.pdf
 !issue17065.pdf
 !issue17069.pdf
+!issue17215.pdf
+
diff --git a/test/pdfs/issue17215.pdf b/test/pdfs/issue17215.pdf
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..d50846ade
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/pdfs/issue17215.pdf differ
diff --git a/test/test_manifest.json b/test/test_manifest.json
index bcd70169b..4035622bf 100644
--- a/test/test_manifest.json
+++ b/test/test_manifest.json
@@ -8189,5 +8189,13 @@
       "link": true,
       "rounds": 1,
       "type": "eq"
-   }
+   },
+   { 
+      "id": "issue17215-annotations",
+      "file": "pdfs/issue17215.pdf",
+      "md5": "968848af6ef593a3d1d6aba030ef47cb",
+      "rounds": 1,
+      "type": "eq",
+      "annotations": true
+   }   
 ]