diff --git a/hscontrol/debug.go b/hscontrol/debug.go
index 096ea25b..c27b3975 100644
--- a/hscontrol/debug.go
+++ b/hscontrol/debug.go
@@ -361,7 +361,6 @@ func (h *Headscale) debugHTTPServer() *http.Server {
 
 		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/html; charset=utf-8")
 		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
-		//nolint:gosec // elem-go auto-escapes all attribute values; no XSS risk.
 		_, _ = w.Write([]byte(templates.PingPage(query, result, nodes).Render()))
 	}))
 
diff --git a/hscontrol/templates/ping.go b/hscontrol/templates/ping.go
index f7e2c63e..f4d2fb3c 100644
--- a/hscontrol/templates/ping.go
+++ b/hscontrol/templates/ping.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package templates
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"html"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -101,7 +102,7 @@ func pingForm(query string) *elem.Element {
 		elem.Input(attrs.Props{
 			attrs.Type:        "text",
 			attrs.Name:        "node",
-			attrs.Value:       query,
+			attrs.Value:       html.EscapeString(query),
 			attrs.Placeholder: "Node ID, IP, or hostname",
 			attrs.Autofocus:   "true",
 			attrs.Style: styles.Props{
diff --git a/hscontrol/templates/ping_test.go b/hscontrol/templates/ping_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3e80cf8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hscontrol/templates/ping_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package templates
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// TestPingPageEscapesQuery asserts hostile query values cannot break out of
+// the input's value attribute. elem-go does not escape attribute values, so
+// the template must escape before rendering.
+func TestPingPageEscapesQuery(t *testing.T) {
+	payloads := []string{
+		`" autofocus onfocus=alert(1) x="`,
+		`"><script>alert(1)</script>`,
+		`<img src=x onerror=alert(1)>`,
+	}
+
+	for _, p := range payloads {
+		t.Run(p, func(t *testing.T) {
+			out := PingPage(p, nil, nil).Render()
+			if strings.Contains(out, p) {
+				t.Fatalf("unescaped payload rendered verbatim: %q", p)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}