diff --git a/infer/src/checkers/costModels.ml b/infer/src/checkers/costModels.ml
index ffb26b4c1..1e13ce0a2 100644
--- a/infer/src/checkers/costModels.ml
+++ b/infer/src/checkers/costModels.ml
@@ -49,8 +49,11 @@ end
 module JavaString = struct
   let substring_aux ~begin_idx ~end_v {integer_type_widths; location} inferbo_mem =
     let begin_v = BufferOverrunSemantics.eval integer_type_widths begin_idx inferbo_mem in
+    let begin_itv = BufferOverrunDomain.Val.get_itv begin_v in
+    let end_itv = BufferOverrunDomain.Val.get_itv end_v in
     let itv =
-      Itv.minus (BufferOverrunDomain.Val.get_itv end_v) (BufferOverrunDomain.Val.get_itv begin_v)
+      if Boolean.is_true (Itv.le_sem begin_itv end_itv) then Itv.minus end_itv begin_itv
+      else end_itv
     in
     CostUtils.of_itv ~itv ~degree_kind:Polynomials.DegreeKind.Linear ~of_function:"String.substring"
       location
diff --git a/infer/tests/codetoanalyze/java/performance/StringTest.java b/infer/tests/codetoanalyze/java/performance/StringTest.java
index e41d5c660..c6654fd9e 100644
--- a/infer/tests/codetoanalyze/java/performance/StringTest.java
+++ b/infer/tests/codetoanalyze/java/performance/StringTest.java
@@ -29,4 +29,9 @@ class StringTest {
     int index = indexof_linear(mId);
     return mId.substring(0, index);
   }
+
+  private String startsWith_constant() {
+    String s = "";
+    return s.startsWith(",") ? s.substring(1) : s;
+  }
 }