diff --git a/src/components/Markdown.svelte b/src/components/Markdown.svelte
index 4b9140901..ef4d30ed0 100644
--- a/src/components/Markdown.svelte
+++ b/src/components/Markdown.svelte
@@ -45,8 +45,10 @@
       return;
     }
 
-    event.preventDefault();
-    void router.navigateToUrl("push", url);
+    if (url.origin === window.origin) {
+      event.preventDefault();
+      void router.navigateToUrl("push", url);
+    }
   }
 
   function render(content: string): string {
diff --git a/tests/e2e/project.spec.ts b/tests/e2e/project.spec.ts
index b4382995e..34f107e72 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/project.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/project.spec.ts
@@ -436,3 +436,16 @@ test.describe("browser error handling", () => {
     await expect(page.locator("text=Not able to load file")).toBeVisible();
   });
 });
+
+test("external markdown link", async ({ page }) => {
+  await page.route("http://github.github.com/**", route => {
+    return route.fulfill({ body: "hello", contentType: "text/plain" });
+  });
+  await page.goto(`${markdownUrl}/tree/main/cheatsheet.md`);
+  await page
+    .getByRole("link", { name: "Github-flavored Markdown info page" })
+    .click();
+  await expect(page).toHaveURL(
+    "http://github.github.com/github-flavored-markdown/",
+  );
+});