diff --git a/src/platform/updates/components/WhatsNewPopup.vue b/src/platform/updates/components/WhatsNewPopup.vue
index c4a898faf..f1a5060b5 100644
--- a/src/platform/updates/components/WhatsNewPopup.vue
+++ b/src/platform/updates/components/WhatsNewPopup.vue
@@ -64,11 +64,11 @@
 </template>
 
 <script setup lang="ts">
-import { marked } from 'marked'
 import { computed, onMounted, ref } from 'vue'
 import { useI18n } from 'vue-i18n'
 
 import { formatVersionAnchor } from '@/utils/formatUtil'
+import { renderMarkdownToHtml } from '@/utils/markdownRendererUtil'
 
 import type { ReleaseNote } from '../common/releaseService'
 import { useReleaseStore } from '../common/releaseStore'
@@ -108,17 +108,13 @@ const changelogUrl = computed(() => {
   return baseUrl
 })
 
-// Format release content for display using marked
 const formattedContent = computed(() => {
   if (!latestRelease.value?.content) {
     return `<p>${t('whatsNewPopup.noReleaseNotes')}</p>`
   }
 
   try {
-    // Use marked to parse markdown to HTML
-    return marked(latestRelease.value.content, {
-      gfm: true // Enable GitHub Flavored Markdown
-    })
+    return renderMarkdownToHtml(latestRelease.value.content)
   } catch (error) {
     console.error('Error parsing markdown:', error)
     // Fallback to plain text with line breaks
diff --git a/src/utils/markdownRendererUtil.ts b/src/utils/markdownRendererUtil.ts
index 3222be340..640047892 100644
--- a/src/utils/markdownRendererUtil.ts
+++ b/src/utils/markdownRendererUtil.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,12 @@ export function createMarkdownRenderer(baseUrl?: string): Renderer {
     const titleAttr = title ? ` title="${title}"` : ''
     return `<img src="${src}" alt="${text}"${titleAttr} />`
   }
+  renderer.link = ({ href, title, tokens, text }) => {
+    // For autolinks (bare URLs), tokens may be undefined, so fall back to text
+    const linkText = tokens ? renderer.parser.parseInline(tokens) : text
+    const titleAttr = title ? ` title="${title}"` : ''
+    return `<a href="${href}" ${titleAttr} target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">${linkText}</a>`
+  }
   return renderer
 }
 
@@ -39,7 +45,8 @@ export function renderMarkdownToHtml(
   if (!markdown) return ''
 
   let html = marked.parse(markdown, {
-    renderer: createMarkdownRenderer(baseUrl)
+    renderer: createMarkdownRenderer(baseUrl),
+    gfm: true // Enable GitHub Flavored Markdown (including autolinks)
   }) as string
 
   if (baseUrl) {
@@ -48,6 +55,6 @@ export function renderMarkdownToHtml(
 
   return DOMPurify.sanitize(html, {
     ADD_TAGS: ALLOWED_TAGS,
-    ADD_ATTR: ALLOWED_ATTRS
+    ADD_ATTR: [...ALLOWED_ATTRS, 'target', 'rel']
   })
 }
diff --git a/tests-ui/tests/components/helpcenter/WhatsNewPopup.test.ts b/tests-ui/tests/components/helpcenter/WhatsNewPopup.test.ts
index c39a07e70..0f8adeb60 100644
--- a/tests-ui/tests/components/helpcenter/WhatsNewPopup.test.ts
+++ b/tests-ui/tests/components/helpcenter/WhatsNewPopup.test.ts
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ vi.mock('vue-i18n', () => ({
   }))
 }))
 
-vi.mock('marked', () => ({
-  marked: vi.fn((content) => `<p>${content}</p>`)
+vi.mock('@/utils/markdownRendererUtil', () => ({
+  renderMarkdownToHtml: vi.fn((content) => `<p>${content}</p>`)
 }))
 
 vi.mock('@/platform/updates/common/releaseStore', () => ({
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ describe('WhatsNewPopup', () => {
   })
 
   describe('content rendering', () => {
-    it('should render release content using marked', async () => {
+    it('should render release content using renderMarkdownToHtml', async () => {
       mockReleaseStore.shouldShowPopup = true
       mockReleaseStore.recentRelease = {
         id: 1,
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ describe('WhatsNewPopup', () => {
 
       const wrapper = createWrapper()
 
-      // Check that the content is rendered (marked is mocked to return processed content)
+      // Check that the content is rendered (renderMarkdownToHtml is mocked to return processed content)
       expect(wrapper.find('.content-text').exists()).toBe(true)
       const contentHtml = wrapper.find('.content-text').html()
       expect(contentHtml).toContain('<p># Release Notes')
diff --git a/tests-ui/tests/utils/markdownRendererUtil.test.ts b/tests-ui/tests/utils/markdownRendererUtil.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a92680cf6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests-ui/tests/utils/markdownRendererUtil.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+import { renderMarkdownToHtml } from '@/utils/markdownRendererUtil'
+
+describe('markdownRendererUtil', () => {
+  describe('renderMarkdownToHtml', () => {
+    it('should render basic markdown to HTML', () => {
+      const markdown = '# Hello\n\nThis is a test.'
+      const html = renderMarkdownToHtml(markdown)
+
+      expect(html).toContain('<h1')
+      expect(html).toContain('Hello')
+      expect(html).toContain('<p>')
+      expect(html).toContain('This is a test.')
+    })
+
+    it('should render links with target="_blank" and rel="noopener noreferrer"', () => {
+      const markdown = '[Click here](https://example.com)'
+      const html = renderMarkdownToHtml(markdown)
+
+      expect(html).toContain('target="_blank"')
+      expect(html).toContain('rel="noopener noreferrer"')
+      expect(html).toContain('href="https://example.com"')
+      expect(html).toContain('Click here')
+    })
+
+    it('should render multiple links with target="_blank"', () => {
+      const markdown =
+        '[Link 1](https://example.com) and [Link 2](https://test.com)'
+      const html = renderMarkdownToHtml(markdown)
+
+      const targetBlankMatches = html.match(/target="_blank"/g)
+      expect(targetBlankMatches).toHaveLength(2)
+
+      const relMatches = html.match(/rel="noopener noreferrer"/g)
+      expect(relMatches).toHaveLength(2)
+    })
+
+    it('should handle relative image paths with baseUrl', () => {
+      const markdown = '![Alt text](image.png)'
+      const baseUrl = 'https://cdn.example.com'
+      const html = renderMarkdownToHtml(markdown, baseUrl)
+
+      expect(html).toContain(`src="${baseUrl}/image.png"`)
+      expect(html).toContain('alt="Alt text"')
+    })
+
+    it('should not modify absolute image URLs', () => {
+      const markdown = '![Alt text](https://example.com/image.png)'
+      const baseUrl = 'https://cdn.example.com'
+      const html = renderMarkdownToHtml(markdown, baseUrl)
+
+      expect(html).toContain('src="https://example.com/image.png"')
+      expect(html).not.toContain(baseUrl)
+    })
+
+    it('should handle empty markdown', () => {
+      const html = renderMarkdownToHtml('')
+
+      expect(html).toBe('')
+    })
+
+    it('should sanitize potentially dangerous HTML', () => {
+      const markdown = '<script>alert("xss")</script>'
+      const html = renderMarkdownToHtml(markdown)
+
+      expect(html).not.toContain('<script>')
+      expect(html).not.toContain('alert')
+    })
+
+    it('should allow video tags with proper attributes', () => {
+      const markdown =
+        '<video src="video.mp4" controls autoplay loop muted></video>'
+      const html = renderMarkdownToHtml(markdown)
+
+      expect(html).toContain('<video')
+      expect(html).toContain('src="video.mp4"')
+      expect(html).toContain('controls')
+    })
+
+    it('should render links with title attribute', () => {
+      const markdown = '[Link](https://example.com "This is a title")'
+      const html = renderMarkdownToHtml(markdown)
+
+      expect(html).toContain('title="This is a title"')
+      expect(html).toContain('target="_blank"')
+      expect(html).toContain('rel="noopener noreferrer"')
+    })
+
+    it('should handle bare URLs (autolinks)', () => {
+      const markdown = 'Visit https://example.com for more info.'
+      const html = renderMarkdownToHtml(markdown)
+
+      expect(html).toContain('href="https://example.com"')
+      expect(html).toContain('target="_blank"')
+      expect(html).toContain('rel="noopener noreferrer"')
+    })
+
+    it('should render complex markdown with links, images, and text', () => {
+      const markdown = `
+# Release Notes
+
+Check out our [documentation](https://docs.example.com) for more info.
+
+![Screenshot](screenshot.png)
+
+Visit our [homepage](https://example.com) to learn more.
+      `
+      const baseUrl = 'https://cdn.example.com'
+      const html = renderMarkdownToHtml(markdown, baseUrl)
+
+      // Check links have target="_blank"
+      const targetBlankMatches = html.match(/target="_blank"/g)
+      expect(targetBlankMatches).toHaveLength(2)
+
+      // Check image has baseUrl prepended
+      expect(html).toContain(`${baseUrl}/screenshot.png`)
+
+      // Check heading
+      expect(html).toContain('Release Notes')
+    })
+  })
+})