diff --git a/CONTRIBUTORS.rst b/CONTRIBUTORS.rst
index 16c04e4..5adc869 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTORS.rst
+++ b/CONTRIBUTORS.rst
@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@
 In alphabetical order:
 
 * `Mark Skelton <https://github.com/mtskelton>`_
+* `Pierre-Louis Peeters <https://github.com/PLPeeters>`_
diff --git a/changelog.yml b/changelog.yml
index ffe101e..bc9a6f8 100644
--- a/changelog.yml
+++ b/changelog.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@ name: pyexcel-xlsxr
 organisation: pyexcel
 releases:
 - changes:
+- action: Fixed
+    details:
+    - 'Fix freeze when parsing certain corrupt XLSX files'
+  date: 31.10.2025
+  version: 0.6.3
 - action: Fixed
     details:
     - 'Fix reading of files with more than 26 columns'
diff --git a/pyexcel_xlsxr/messy_xlsx.py b/pyexcel_xlsxr/messy_xlsx.py
index 3532c87..21d35da 100644
--- a/pyexcel_xlsxr/messy_xlsx.py
+++ b/pyexcel_xlsxr/messy_xlsx.py
@@ -10,17 +10,12 @@
 STYLE_FILENAME = "xl/styles.xml"
 SHARED_STRING = "xl/sharedStrings.xml"
 WORK_BOOK = "xl/workbook.xml"
-SHEET_MATCHER = "xl/worksheets/(work)?sheet([0-9]+)?.xml"
-SHEET_INDEX_MATCHER = "xl/worksheets/(work)?sheet(([0-9]+)?).xml"
-XLSX_ROW_MATCH = re.compile(rb".*?(<row.*?<\/.*?row>).*?", re.MULTILINE)
-NUMBER_FMT_MATCHER = re.compile(
-    rb".*?(<numFmts.*?<\/.*?numFmts>).*?", re.MULTILINE
-)
-XFS_FMT_MATCHER = re.compile(
-    rb".*?(<cellXfs.*?<\/.*?cellXfs>).*?", re.MULTILINE
-)
-SHEET_FMT_MATCHER = re.compile(rb".*?(<sheet .*?\/>).*?", re.MULTILINE)
-DATE_1904_MATCHER = re.compile(rb".*?(<workbookPr.*?\/>).*?", re.MULTILINE)
+SHEET_MATCHER = re.compile(r"xl/worksheets/(?:work)?sheet([0-9]+)?.xml")
+XLSX_ROW_MATCH = re.compile(rb"<row\b[^>]*>.*?</row>", re.DOTALL)
+NUMBER_FMT_MATCHER = re.compile(rb"<numFmts\b[^>]*>.*?</numFmts>", re.DOTALL)
+XFS_FMT_MATCHER = re.compile(rb"<cellXfs\b[^>]*>.*?</cellXfs>", re.DOTALL)
+SHEET_FMT_MATCHER = re.compile(rb"<sheet\b.*?/>", re.DOTALL)
+DATE_1904_MATCHER = re.compile(rb"<workbookPr\b.*?/>", re.DOTALL)
 # "xmlns:x14ac="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/spreadsheetml/2009/9/ac"
 # But it not used for now
 X14AC_NAMESPACE = b'xmlns:x14ac="http://not.used.com/"'
@@ -159,14 +154,15 @@ def find_sheets(file_list):
     return [
         sheet_file
         for sheet_file in file_list
-        if re.match(SHEET_MATCHER, sheet_file)
+        if SHEET_MATCHER.match(sheet_file)
     ]
 
 
 def get_sheet_index(file_name):
-    if re.match(SHEET_MATCHER, file_name):
-        result = re.search(SHEET_INDEX_MATCHER, file_name)
-        index = int(result.group(3)) if result.group(3) else 1
+    sheet_match = SHEET_MATCHER.match(file_name)
+
+    if sheet_match:
+        index = int(sheet_match.group(1)) if sheet_match.group(1) else 1
         return index - 1
     else:
         raise Exception("Invalid sheet file name")
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 8073b20..1f36d85 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ def filter_out_test_code(file_handle):
         keywords=KEYWORDS,
         python_requires=PYTHON_REQUIRES,
         extras_require=EXTRAS_REQUIRE,
-        tests_require=["nose"],
+        tests_require=["pytest~=8.4"],
         install_requires=INSTALL_REQUIRES,
         packages=PACKAGES,
         include_package_data=True,
diff --git a/tests/requirements.txt b/tests/requirements.txt
index 2e06552..3001d98 100644
--- a/tests/requirements.txt
+++ b/tests/requirements.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-nose
+pytest~=8.4
 mock;python_version<"3"
 codecov
 coverage