diff --git a/codepropertygraph/src/main/scala/io/shiftleft/utils/IOUtils.scala b/codepropertygraph/src/main/scala/io/shiftleft/utils/IOUtils.scala
index 581eefe8a..e10f2a318 100644
--- a/codepropertygraph/src/main/scala/io/shiftleft/utils/IOUtils.scala
+++ b/codepropertygraph/src/main/scala/io/shiftleft/utils/IOUtils.scala
@@ -1,21 +1,13 @@
 package io.shiftleft.utils
 
 import java.io.Reader
-import java.nio.charset.{CharsetDecoder, CodingErrorAction}
-import java.nio.file.Path
-import java.util.regex.Pattern
+import java.nio.charset.{CharsetDecoder, CodingErrorAction, StandardCharsets}
+import java.nio.file.{Files, Path}
 import scala.io.{BufferedSource, Codec, Source}
-import scala.jdk.CollectionConverters.IteratorHasAsScala
 import scala.util.Using
 
 object IOUtils {
 
-  private val boms: Set[Char] = Set(
-    '\uefbb', // UTF-8
-    '\ufeff', // UTF-16 (BE)
-    '\ufffe'  // UTF-16 (LE)
-  )
-
   /** Creates a new UTF-8 decoder. Sadly, instances of CharsetDecoder are not thread-safe as the doc states: 'Instances
     * of this class are not safe for use by multiple concurrent threads.' (copied from:
     * [[java.nio.charset.CharsetDecoder]])
@@ -28,11 +20,12 @@ object IOUtils {
       .onMalformedInput(CodingErrorAction.REPLACE)
       .onUnmappableCharacter(CodingErrorAction.REPLACE)
 
+  /** Skips a leading byte order mark (BOM) if present. Once decoded as UTF-8, a BOM shows up as the single character
+    * U+FEFF (e.g. the UTF-8 BOM bytes EF BB BF decode to U+FEFF).
+    */
   private def skipBOMIfPresent(reader: Reader): Unit = {
     reader.mark(1)
-    val possibleBOM = new Array[Char](1)
-    reader.read(possibleBOM)
-    if (!boms.contains(possibleBOM(0))) {
+    if (reader.read() != '\ufeff') {
       reader.reset()
     }
   }
@@ -40,31 +33,17 @@ object IOUtils {
   private def contentFromBufferedSource(bufferedSource: BufferedSource): Seq[String] = {
     val reader = bufferedSource.bufferedReader()
     skipBOMIfPresent(reader)
-    reader.lines().iterator().asScala.toSeq
-  }
-
-  private def contentStringFromBufferedSource(bufferedSource: BufferedSource): String = {
-    val reader        = bufferedSource.bufferedReader()
-    val stringBuilder = new StringBuilder
-    val bufferSize    = 1024
-    var productive    = true
-
-    skipBOMIfPresent(reader)
-    while (productive) {
-      val buffer = new Array[Char](bufferSize)
-      val read   = reader.read(buffer)
-      productive = read > 0
-      if (productive) {
-        stringBuilder.appendAll(buffer, 0, read)
-      }
+    val lines = List.newBuilder[String]
+    var line  = reader.readLine()
+    while (line != null) {
+      lines += line
+      line = reader.readLine()
     }
-
-    stringBuilder.toString
+    lines.result()
   }
 
   /** Reads a file at the given path and:
     *   - skips BOM if present
-    *   - removes unpaired surrogates
     *   - uses UTF-8 encoding (replacing malformed and unmappable characters)
     *
     * @param path
@@ -77,7 +56,6 @@ object IOUtils {
 
   /** Reads a file at the given path and:
     *   - skips BOM if present
-    *   - removes unpaired surrogates
     *   - uses UTF-8 encoding (replacing malformed and unmappable characters)
     *
     * @param path
@@ -85,7 +63,18 @@ object IOUtils {
     * @return
     *   a String with the given file's contents
     */
-  def readEntireFile(path: Path): String =
-    Using.resource(Source.fromFile(path.toFile)(createDecoder()))(contentStringFromBufferedSource)
+  def readEntireFile(path: Path): String = {
+    val bytes = Files.readAllBytes(path)
+    // Strip the UTF-8 BOM (EF BB BF) if present. The String constructor replaces malformed and unmappable input with
+    // the default replacement character, i.e. decoding is lenient just like in readLinesInFile above.
+    val offset = if (startsWithUtf8Bom(bytes)) Utf8BomLength else 0
+    new String(bytes, offset, bytes.length - offset, StandardCharsets.UTF_8)
+  }
+
+  private val Utf8BomLength = 3
+
+  private def startsWithUtf8Bom(bytes: Array[Byte]): Boolean =
+    bytes.length >= Utf8BomLength &&
+      bytes(0) == 0xef.toByte && bytes(1) == 0xbb.toByte && bytes(2) == 0xbf.toByte
 
 }
diff --git a/codepropertygraph/src/test/scala/io/shiftleft/utils/IOUtilsTest.scala b/codepropertygraph/src/test/scala/io/shiftleft/utils/IOUtilsTest.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..33e3216e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/codepropertygraph/src/test/scala/io/shiftleft/utils/IOUtilsTest.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+package io.shiftleft.utils
+
+import org.scalatest.matchers.should.Matchers
+import org.scalatest.wordspec.AnyWordSpec
+
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
+import java.nio.file.{Files, Path}
+
+class IOUtilsTest extends AnyWordSpec with Matchers {
+
+  private val Utf8Bom = Array(0xef.toByte, 0xbb.toByte, 0xbf.toByte)
+
+  private def withTempFile(content: Array[Byte])(f: Path => Unit): Unit = {
+    val path = Files.createTempFile("io-utils-test", ".tmp")
+    try {
+      Files.write(path, content)
+      f(path)
+    } finally {
+      Files.deleteIfExists(path)
+    }
+  }
+
+  private def utf8(s: String): Array[Byte] = s.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)
+
+  "IOUtils.readLinesInFile" should {
+    "read all lines" in {
+      withTempFile(utf8("foo\nbar\r\nbaz")) { path =>
+        IOUtils.readLinesInFile(path) shouldBe Seq("foo", "bar", "baz")
+      }
+    }
+
+    "skip a UTF-8 BOM if present" in {
+      withTempFile(Utf8Bom ++ utf8("foo\nbar")) { path =>
+        IOUtils.readLinesInFile(path) shouldBe Seq("foo", "bar")
+      }
+    }
+
+    "replace malformed UTF-8 input instead of throwing" in {
+      // 0xC3 starts a two-byte sequence but 0x28 ('(') is not a valid continuation byte
+      withTempFile(utf8("foo") ++ Array(0xc3.toByte, 0x28.toByte)) { path =>
+        IOUtils.readLinesInFile(path) shouldBe Seq("foo\ufffd(")
+      }
+    }
+
+    "not strip a leading character that merely encodes like a BOM" in {
+      // EF AE BB is the genuine UTF-8 encoding of U+FBBB (a regular character, not a BOM)
+      withTempFile(Array(0xef.toByte, 0xae.toByte, 0xbb.toByte)) { path =>
+        IOUtils.readLinesInFile(path) shouldBe Seq("\ufbbb")
+      }
+    }
+
+    "return an empty Seq for an empty file" in {
+      withTempFile(Array.emptyByteArray) { path =>
+        IOUtils.readLinesInFile(path) shouldBe empty
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  "IOUtils.readEntireFile" should {
+    "read the entire content" in {
+      withTempFile(utf8("foo\nbar\n")) { path =>
+        IOUtils.readEntireFile(path) shouldBe "foo\nbar\n"
+      }
+    }
+
+    "skip a UTF-8 BOM if present" in {
+      withTempFile(Utf8Bom ++ utf8("foo")) { path =>
+        IOUtils.readEntireFile(path) shouldBe "foo"
+      }
+    }
+
+    "replace malformed UTF-8 input instead of throwing" in {
+      withTempFile(Array(0xc3.toByte, 0x28.toByte)) { path =>
+        IOUtils.readEntireFile(path) shouldBe "\ufffd("
+      }
+    }
+
+    "not strip a leading character that merely encodes like a BOM" in {
+      // EF AE BB is the genuine UTF-8 encoding of U+FBBB (a regular character, not a BOM)
+      withTempFile(Array(0xef.toByte, 0xae.toByte, 0xbb.toByte)) { path =>
+        IOUtils.readEntireFile(path) shouldBe "\ufbbb"
+      }
+    }
+
+    "return an empty String for an empty file" in {
+      withTempFile(Array.emptyByteArray) { path =>
+        IOUtils.readEntireFile(path) shouldBe ""
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+}