diff --git a/lib/Cleantalk/ApbctWP/ContactsEncoder/Shortcodes/ExcludedEncodeContentSC.php b/lib/Cleantalk/ApbctWP/ContactsEncoder/Shortcodes/ExcludedEncodeContentSC.php
index fe2a46ed2..f18f19ef4 100644
--- a/lib/Cleantalk/ApbctWP/ContactsEncoder/Shortcodes/ExcludedEncodeContentSC.php
+++ b/lib/Cleantalk/ApbctWP/ContactsEncoder/Shortcodes/ExcludedEncodeContentSC.php
@@ -642,12 +642,23 @@ protected function stripProtectedContactsFromPlainText($text, array $contacts)
             return '';
         }
 
-        foreach ( $contacts as $contact ) {
-            $quoted = preg_quote($contact, '/');
-            $text = preg_replace('/' . $quoted . '/', '', $text);
+        $parts = wp_html_split($text);
+        if ( ! is_array($parts) ) {
+            return $text;
         }
 
-        return $text;
+        $result = '';
+        foreach ( $parts as $part ) {
+            if ( $part !== '' && $part[0] !== '<' ) {
+                foreach ( $contacts as $contact ) {
+                    $quoted = preg_quote($contact, '/');
+                    $part = preg_replace('/' . $quoted . '/', '', $part);
+                }
+            }
+            $result .= $part;
+        }
+
+        return $result;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -737,7 +748,7 @@ protected function prepareTitleForBufferMode($title)
             return $title;
         }
 
-        return $this->removeDuplicateContactsOutsideShortcodes($title);
+        return wp_kses_post($this->removeDuplicateContactsOutsideShortcodes($title));
     }
 
     /**
@@ -891,11 +902,39 @@ public function processTitleString($title, $strip_html = true)
         if ( $strip_html ) {
             $result = wp_strip_all_tags($result);
             $result = trim(preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', $result), " \n\r\t\v\x00");
+        } else {
+            $result = $this->ksesEncodedMarkup($result);
         }
 
         return $result;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * wp_kses_post() keeping encoder attributes: WP < 5.0 strips data-* attributes.
+     *
+     * @param string $html
+     *
+     * @return string
+     */
+    protected function ksesEncodedMarkup($html)
+    {
+        $allowed_html = wp_kses_allowed_html('post');
+        $encoder_attributes = array(
+            'data-original-string' => true,
+            'class' => true,
+            'title' => true,
+        );
+
+        foreach ( array('span', 'a') as $tag ) {
+            $allowed_html[$tag] = array_merge(
+                isset($allowed_html[$tag]) ? $allowed_html[$tag] : array(),
+                $encoder_attributes
+            );
+        }
+
+        return wp_kses($html, $allowed_html);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Remove skip-encoding shortcodes before slug generation.
      *
diff --git a/lib/Cleantalk/Common/ContactsEncoder/assets/contacts_encoder.js b/lib/Cleantalk/Common/ContactsEncoder/assets/contacts_encoder.js
index 55758a9a1..315e5afe2 100644
--- a/lib/Cleantalk/Common/ContactsEncoder/assets/contacts_encoder.js
+++ b/lib/Cleantalk/Common/ContactsEncoder/assets/contacts_encoder.js
@@ -334,11 +334,7 @@ class ContactsEncoder {
                         continue;
                     }
                     let encodedEmail = encodedNodes[i].href.replace(linkTypePrefix, '');
-                    let baseElementContent = encodedNodes[i].innerHTML;
-                    encodedNodes[i].innerHTML = baseElementContent.replace(
-                        encodedEmail,
-                        currentResultData.decoded_email,
-                    );
+                    this.replaceInTextNodes(encodedNodes[i], encodedEmail, currentResultData.decoded_email);
                     encodedNodes[i].href = linkTypePrefix + currentResultData.decoded_email;
 
                     encodedNodes[i].querySelectorAll('span.apbct-email-encoder').forEach((el) => {
@@ -348,7 +344,7 @@ class ContactsEncoder {
                                 encodedEmailTextInsideMailto = row.decoded_email;
                             }
                         });
-                        el.innerHTML = encodedEmailTextInsideMailto;
+                        el.textContent = encodedEmailTextInsideMailto;
                     });
                 } else {
                     encodedNodes[i].classList.add('no-blur');
@@ -371,6 +367,26 @@ class ContactsEncoder {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Replace the first occurrence of search in element text only, never in markup or attributes.
+     * @param {HTMLElement} element
+     * @param {string} search
+     * @param {string} replacement
+     */
+    replaceInTextNodes(element, search, replacement) {
+        if (!search) {
+            return;
+        }
+        const walker = document.createTreeWalker(element, NodeFilter.SHOW_TEXT);
+        let node;
+        while ((node = walker.nextNode())) {
+            if (node.nodeValue.indexOf(search) !== -1) {
+                node.nodeValue = node.nodeValue.replace(search, () => replacement);
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * @param {mixed} response
      * @param {mixed} targetElement
diff --git a/tests/ApbctWP/ContactsEncoder/Shortcodes/ExcludedEncodeContentSCTest.php b/tests/ApbctWP/ContactsEncoder/Shortcodes/ExcludedEncodeContentSCTest.php
index 8c8bc8c66..b0f2495c6 100644
--- a/tests/ApbctWP/ContactsEncoder/Shortcodes/ExcludedEncodeContentSCTest.php
+++ b/tests/ApbctWP/ContactsEncoder/Shortcodes/ExcludedEncodeContentSCTest.php
@@ -463,4 +463,106 @@ public function testChangeContentBeforeEncoderModifySkipsShortcodeWithHtmlTags()
         $this->assertSame($content, $result);
         $this->assertCount(0, $this->exclude_content_sc->shortcode_replacements);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * @param string $method
+     * @param array $args
+     *
+     * @return mixed
+     */
+    private function callProtected($method, array $args)
+    {
+        $reflection = new \ReflectionMethod(ExcludedEncodeContentSC::class, $method);
+        $reflection->setAccessible(true);
+
+        return $reflection->invokeArgs($this->exclude_content_sc, $args);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Contacts must be stripped only from text nodes, never from tag attributes.
+     *
+     * @dataProvider stripProtectedContactsProvider
+     */
+    public function testStripProtectedContactsFromPlainText($text, array $contacts, $expected): void
+    {
+        $this->assertSame(
+            $expected,
+            $this->callProtected('stripProtectedContactsFromPlainText', [$text, $contacts])
+        );
+    }
+
+    public function stripProtectedContactsProvider(): array
+    {
+        return [
+            'empty text' => ['', ['a'], ''],
+            'attribute untouched' => [
+                '<a href="https:javascript:alert(1)">',
+                ['https:'],
+                '<a href="https:javascript:alert(1)">',
+            ],
+            'text node stripped' => ['<a href="https:x">https:text</a>', ['https:'], '<a href="https:x">text</a>'],
+            'comment untouched' => ['<!-- https: -->https:', ['https:'], '<!-- https: -->'],
+            'contact is literal, not regex' => ['a+b a.b', ['a.b'], 'a+b '],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    public function testRemoveDuplicatesDoesNotForgeJavascriptScheme(): void
+    {
+        $title = '<a href="https:javascript:alert(document.domain)">'
+            . '[apbct_skip_encoding]https:[/apbct_skip_encoding]marker</a>';
+
+        $this->assertSame($title, $this->callProtected('removeDuplicateContactsOutsideShortcodes', [$title]));
+    }
+
+    public function testRemoveDuplicatesStillStripsDuplicateContactFromText(): void
+    {
+        $title = 'Mail me at a@b.com [apbct_skip_encoding]a@b.com[/apbct_skip_encoding]';
+
+        $this->assertSame(
+            'Mail me at [apbct_skip_encoding]a@b.com[/apbct_skip_encoding]',
+            $this->callProtected('removeDuplicateContactsOutsideShortcodes', [$title])
+        );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * End-to-end: final title output must not contain a javascript: link in either mode.
+     *
+     * @dataProvider titleXssPayloadProvider
+     */
+    public function testFilterTheTitleDoesNotOutputJavascriptHref($title): void
+    {
+        global $apbct;
+
+        $previous_buffer = $apbct->settings['data__email_decoder_buffer'];
+
+        try {
+            foreach ([true, false] as $buffer_mode) {
+                $apbct->settings['data__email_decoder_buffer'] = $buffer_mode;
+
+                $result = $this->exclude_content_sc->filterTheTitle($title);
+
+                $this->assertNotRegExp('/<a\b[^>]*\bhref\s*=\s*["\']?\s*javascript:/i', $result);
+            }
+        } finally {
+            $apbct->settings['data__email_decoder_buffer'] = $previous_buffer;
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function titleXssPayloadProvider(): array
+    {
+        $skip = '[apbct_skip_encoding]https:[/apbct_skip_encoding]';
+
+        return [
+            'scheme forged by strip' => ['<a href="https:javascript:alert(document.domain)">' . $skip . 'marker</a>'],
+            '> in double-quoted attribute' => ['<a title="a>b" href="https:javascript:alert(1)">x</a>' . $skip],
+            '> in single-quoted attribute' => ["<a title='a>b' href='https:javascript:alert(1)'>x</a>" . $skip],
+        ];
+    }
+
+    public function testBufferModeTitleDropsScriptTags(): void
+    {
+        $title = '[apbct_skip_encoding]x@y.com[/apbct_skip_encoding]<script>alert(1)</script>';
+
+        $this->assertStringNotContainsString('<script', $this->callProtected('prepareTitleForBufferMode', [$title]));
+    }
 }