diff --git a/openpilot/tools/cabana/ui/widgets/messageswidget.cc b/openpilot/tools/cabana/ui/widgets/messageswidget.cc
index a3cacea680..635d1ee5b3 100644
--- a/openpilot/tools/cabana/ui/widgets/messageswidget.cc
+++ b/openpilot/tools/cabana/ui/widgets/messageswidget.cc
@@ -23,11 +23,12 @@ namespace {
 const char *COLUMN_TITLES[MessageList::COLUMN_COUNT] = {"Name", "Bus", "ID", "Node", "Freq", "Count", "Bytes"};
 constexpr float DEFAULT_SECTION_SIZE = 100.0f;
 
-// surrounding whitespace is ignored; no sign, no 0x prefix
+// surrounding whitespace is ignored; no sign, optional 0x prefix for hex
 unsigned int toUInt(const std::string &s, bool *ok, int base) {
   const char *b = s.data(), *e = b + s.size();
   while (b < e && std::isspace((unsigned char)*b)) ++b;
   while (e > b && std::isspace((unsigned char)e[-1])) --e;
+  if (base == 16 && e - b >= 2 && b[0] == '0' && (b[1] == 'x' || b[1] == 'X')) b += 2;
   unsigned int v = 0;
   auto [p, ec] = std::from_chars(b, e, v, base);
   *ok = b < e && p == e && ec == std::errc();