2 files changed, 7 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/sonar-markdown/src/main/java/org/sonar/markdown/HtmlLinkChannel.java b/sonar-markdown/src/main/java/org/sonar/markdown/HtmlLinkChannel.java
index 66e88e15c5f..00370b2fea3 100644
--- a/sonar-markdown/src/main/java/org/sonar/markdown/HtmlLinkChannel.java
+++ b/sonar-markdown/src/main/java/org/sonar/markdown/HtmlLinkChannel.java
@@ -47,9 +47,10 @@ class HtmlLinkChannel extends RegexChannel<MarkdownOutput> {
     matcher.matches();
     String content = matcher.group(1);
     String url = matcher.group(2);
+    boolean isRelativeUrl = !url.contains("://");
     output.append("<a href=\"");
     output.append(url);
-    output.append("\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">");
+    output.append(isRelativeUrl ? "\">" : "\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">");
     output.append(content);
     output.append("</a>");
   }
diff --git a/sonar-markdown/src/main/java/org/sonar/markdown/HtmlUrlChannel.java b/sonar-markdown/src/main/java/org/sonar/markdown/HtmlUrlChannel.java
index 50424d4b0c3..1d34ecdcf3c 100644
--- a/sonar-markdown/src/main/java/org/sonar/markdown/HtmlUrlChannel.java
+++ b/sonar-markdown/src/main/java/org/sonar/markdown/HtmlUrlChannel.java
@@ -33,10 +33,12 @@ class HtmlUrlChannel extends RegexChannel<MarkdownOutput> {
 
   @Override
   protected void consume(CharSequence token, MarkdownOutput output) {
+    String url = token.toString();
+    boolean isRelativeUrl = !url.contains("://");
     output.append("<a href=\"");
-    output.append(token);
-    output.append("\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">");
-    output.append(token);
+    output.append(url);
+    output.append(isRelativeUrl ? "\">" : "\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">");
+    output.append(url);
     output.append("</a>");
   }
 }