diff --git a/exe_block_splat_test.go b/exe_block_splat_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95165e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/exe_block_splat_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+package parser_test
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/go-ruby-parser/parser"
+	"github.com/go-ruby-parser/parser/ast"
+)
+
+// TestEndBlockRecordsNoSplat.
+//
+// `END { }` desugars to `at_exit { }`, and the Block it built left SplatIndex at
+// Go's zero value. Zero is a perfectly good index, and the field's "no splat"
+// value is -1 — so the block announced a *splat parameter at position 0 with no
+// parameters to hold it. go-embedded-ruby's compiler believed it and emitted a
+// rest-binding that read past an empty environment:
+//
+//	$ echo 'END { puts "E" }' > p.rb && rbgo p.rb
+//	panic: runtime error: slice bounds out of range [:1] with capacity 0
+//
+// An uncontained Go panic on ordinary Ruby, which for an embedder takes the host
+// process down (go-embedded-ruby/ruby#805). Nothing here crashed, because a
+// parser does not run what it builds: the cost landed entirely in a consumer.
+func TestEndBlockRecordsNoSplat(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, src := range []string{
+		`END { 1 }`,
+		`puts "x"` + "\n" + `END { 1 }`,
+		`END { 1 }` + "\n" + `END { 2 }`,
+	} {
+		prog, err := parser.Parse(src)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Parse(%q): %v", src, err)
+		}
+		found := false
+		for _, n := range prog.Body {
+			call, ok := n.(*ast.Call)
+			if !ok || call.Name != "at_exit" || call.Block == nil {
+				continue
+			}
+			found = true
+			if call.Block.SplatIndex != -1 {
+				t.Errorf("%q: END block SplatIndex = %d, want -1 (no splat)",
+					src, call.Block.SplatIndex)
+			}
+			if len(call.Block.Params) != 0 {
+				t.Errorf("%q: END block has %d params, want 0", src, len(call.Block.Params))
+			}
+		}
+		if !found {
+			t.Errorf("%q: no at_exit call produced", src)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// TestEveryBlockHasAConsistentSplatIndex is the guard, and it is the point of
+// this file rather than the case above.
+//
+// SplatIndex is an int whose absent value is -1, so a Block built by a literal
+// that does not mention the field claims a splat at 0. Two of the three
+// &ast.Block literals in parser.go set it — the two that build their value from
+// parsed parameters. The one that forgot was the one with no parameters to
+// parse, which is exactly the shape a future desugaring will have.
+//
+// So this does not check one construct. It parses a corpus and asserts the
+// invariant over EVERY Block in every tree: SplatIndex is -1, or a valid index
+// into Params. A new desugaring that forgets the field fails here rather than in
+// a consumer's runtime.
+func TestEveryBlockHasAConsistentSplatIndex(t *testing.T) {
+	sources := []string{
+		`END { 1 }`,
+		`BEGIN { 1 }` + "\n" + `END { 2 }`,
+		`at_exit { 1 }`,
+		`[1].each { |x| x }`,
+		`[1].each { |*a| a }`,
+		`[1].each { |a, *b, c| b }`,
+		`[1].each { }`,
+		`[1].each do |x| x end`,
+		`f = lambda { |a, *b| a }`,
+		`f = ->(a) { a }`,
+		`define_method(:x) { |*a| a }`,
+		`[1].map { |a, (b, c)| b }`,
+		`[1].each { |a, b: 1| a }`,
+		`[1].each { |a, &blk| a }`,
+		`proc { |a = 1| a }`,
+		`loop { break }`,
+		`[[1,2]].each { |(a, b)| a }`,
+	}
+	for _, src := range sources {
+		prog, err := parser.Parse(src)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Parse(%q): %v", src, err)
+		}
+		n := 0
+		walkBlocks(reflect.ValueOf(prog), func(b *ast.Block) {
+			n++
+			switch {
+			case b.SplatIndex == -1:
+			case b.SplatIndex >= 0 && b.SplatIndex < len(b.Params):
+			default:
+				t.Errorf("%q: Block with %d param(s) has SplatIndex %d; want -1 or an index into Params",
+					src, len(b.Params), b.SplatIndex)
+			}
+		})
+		if n == 0 {
+			// Without this the guard would pass on a walk that found nothing,
+			// which is indistinguishable from a tree with no defects.
+			t.Errorf("%q: the walk found no Block at all", src)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// walkBlocks visits every *ast.Block reachable from v. It walks by reflection
+// rather than by a type switch over the AST so that a node added later is
+// covered without anyone remembering to extend it -- the failure this guard
+// exists to catch is precisely somebody not remembering.
+func walkBlocks(v reflect.Value, fn func(*ast.Block)) {
+	seen := map[uintptr]bool{}
+	var walk func(reflect.Value)
+	walk = func(v reflect.Value) {
+		switch v.Kind() {
+		case reflect.Ptr, reflect.Interface:
+			if v.IsNil() {
+				return
+			}
+			if v.Kind() == reflect.Ptr {
+				if seen[v.Pointer()] {
+					return
+				}
+				seen[v.Pointer()] = true
+				if b, ok := v.Interface().(*ast.Block); ok {
+					fn(b)
+				}
+			}
+			walk(v.Elem())
+		case reflect.Slice, reflect.Array:
+			for i := 0; i < v.Len(); i++ {
+				walk(v.Index(i))
+			}
+		case reflect.Map:
+			for _, k := range v.MapKeys() {
+				walk(v.MapIndex(k))
+			}
+		case reflect.Struct:
+			for i := 0; i < v.NumField(); i++ {
+				if v.Type().Field(i).IsExported() {
+					walk(v.Field(i))
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	walk(v)
+}
diff --git a/parser.go b/parser.go
index 065c977..82f4b68 100644
--- a/parser.go
+++ b/parser.go
@@ -756,7 +756,21 @@ func (p *Parser) parseExeBlock() ast.Node {
 		p.preExe = append(p.preExe, body...)
 		return &ast.Begin{}
 	}
-	return &ast.Call{Name: "at_exit", Block: &ast.Block{Body: body}}
+	// SplatIndex MUST be set here. Its "no splat" value is -1, and Go's zero
+	// value for an int is 0 -- a perfectly good index. An END block desugared
+	// without it therefore announced a *splat parameter at position 0 with no
+	// parameters to hold it, and go-embedded-ruby's compiler emitted a
+	// rest-binding that read past an empty environment:
+	//
+	//	$ echo 'END { puts "E" }' > p.rb && rbgo p.rb
+	//	panic: runtime error: slice bounds out of range [:1] with capacity 0
+	//
+	// taking the whole process down on ordinary Ruby (go-embedded-ruby/ruby#805).
+	//
+	// The other two &ast.Block literals in this file set it, because they build
+	// their value from parsed parameters. This one has no parameters to parse,
+	// which is exactly how it came to be the one that forgot.
+	return &ast.Call{Name: "at_exit", Block: &ast.Block{SplatIndex: -1, Body: body}}
 }
 
 // parseKeywordLogical parses the low-precedence keyword operators `and`, `or`,