diff --git a/vlib/x/markdown/README.md b/vlib/x/markdown/README.md
index d570353673..6afcf99150 100644
--- a/vlib/x/markdown/README.md
+++ b/vlib/x/markdown/README.md
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ extensions. Designed for feature parity with
 HTML output follows CommonMark block boundaries, including a newline before a
 nested list or code block inside a tight list. Image alt text flattens inline
 formatting, nested links, and images to their text content.
+Numeric character references follow CommonMark digit limits and replace invalid Unicode values
+with U+FFFD. URI autolinks allow empty scheme payloads and reject ASCII control characters.
 
 ### GFM Extensions (via `.gfm()` helper or individual extensions)
 - **Tables**: `| col | col |` with alignment (`:--`, `:--:`, `--:`)
diff --git a/vlib/x/markdown/commonmark_inline_boundary_test.v b/vlib/x/markdown/commonmark_inline_boundary_test.v
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a5a6ad1d31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vlib/x/markdown/commonmark_inline_boundary_test.v
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+// Copyright 2026 The V Language. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by an MIT license
+// that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+module markdown
+
+fn test_numeric_entities_replace_invalid_unicode_values() {
+	for source in ['�', '�', '�', '�', '�', '�', '�',
+		'�'] {
+		assert to_html(source) == '<p>�</p>\n', source
+	}
+	assert to_html('&#1114111; &#x10FFFF;') == '<p>${rune(0x10ffff)} ${rune(0x10ffff)}</p>\n'
+	assert to_html('&#0000065; &#x000041; &#X000041;') == '<p>A A A</p>\n'
+}
+
+fn test_numeric_entity_digit_limits_and_malformed_controls() {
+	for source in ['&#00000065;', '&#11141110;', '&#x0000041;', '&#x1000000;', '&#;', '&#x;', '&#-1;',
+		'&#+65;', '&#xG;', '&#12z;', '&# 65;', '&#65', '&#x41'] {
+		assert to_html(source) == '<p>${source.replace('&', '&amp;')}</p>\n', source
+	}
+}
+
+fn test_uri_autolinks_allow_empty_payload_and_validate_schemes() {
+	for source in ['ab:', 'http:', 'a+.-:', 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef:'] {
+		assert to_html('<${source}>') == '<p><a href="${source}">${source}</a></p>\n', source
+	}
+	for source in ['a:', 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefg:', '1a:', 'a_:', ':'] {
+		assert to_html('<${source}>') == '<p>&lt;${source}&gt;</p>\n', source
+	}
+}
+
+fn test_uri_autolinks_reject_ascii_controls() {
+	for c in 0 .. 33 {
+		assert try_autolink('<ab:${u8(c).ascii_str()}payload>') == -1, c.str()
+	}
+	assert try_autolink('<ab:${u8(127).ascii_str()}payload>') == -1
+	for c in [u8(1), u8(11), u8(31), u8(127)] {
+		control := c.ascii_str()
+		assert to_html('<ab:${control}payload>') == '<p>&lt;ab:${control}payload&gt;</p>\n'
+	}
+	assert to_html('<ab:foo>') == '<p><a href="ab:foo">ab:foo</a></p>\n'
+}
diff --git a/vlib/x/markdown/inline.v b/vlib/x/markdown/inline.v
index b5ac9265e4..ea2761f160 100644
--- a/vlib/x/markdown/inline.v
+++ b/vlib/x/markdown/inline.v
@@ -984,11 +984,11 @@ fn try_autolink(s string) int {
 	}
 	for i := 0; i < inner.len; i++ {
 		c := inner[i]
-		if c == ` ` || c == `\t` || c == `\n` || c == `\r` || c == `<` {
+		if c <= 0x20 || c == 0x7f || c == `<` {
 			return -1
 		}
 	}
-	// Absolute URI: scheme ':' + at least one more character.
+	// Absolute URI: scheme ':' + zero or more non-control characters.
 	idx := inner.index(':') or { -1 }
 	if idx > 0 {
 		scheme := inner[..idx]
@@ -1001,7 +1001,7 @@ fn try_autolink(s string) int {
 					break
 				}
 			}
-			if ok && idx + 1 < inner.len {
+			if ok {
 				return end
 			}
 		}
@@ -1230,10 +1230,10 @@ fn (mut p InlineParser) try_entity() ?&Node {
 			return text_node(multi)
 		}
 	}
-	// Out-of-range numeric references (> U+10FFFF) are not entities at all
-	// (they stay literal); zero and surrogates decode to U+FFFD below.
+	// CommonMark limits the digit count, not the numeric value. Invalid
+	// Unicode values, zero, and surrogates decode to U+FFFD below.
 	if candidate.len > 3 && candidate[1] == `#` {
-		if numeric_entity_too_large(candidate[2..candidate.len - 1]) {
+		if numeric_entity_too_long(candidate[2..candidate.len - 1]) {
 			return none
 		}
 	}
@@ -1251,39 +1251,13 @@ const multi_rune_entities = {
 	'ngE': '≧̸'
 }
 
-// numeric_entity_too_large reports whether a numeric entity body (the part
-// between `&#` and `;`, with optional `x` prefix) denotes a value above
-// U+10FFFF. Malformed bodies return false (the decoder rejects them).
-fn numeric_entity_too_large(body string) bool {
-	mut entity_digits := body
-	mut base := 10
-	if entity_digits.len > 0 && (entity_digits[0] == `x` || entity_digits[0] == `X`) {
-		base = 16
-		entity_digits = entity_digits[1..]
+// numeric_entity_too_long checks CommonMark's decimal and hexadecimal digit limits.
+// Malformed bodies within these limits are rejected by the entity decoder.
+fn numeric_entity_too_long(body string) bool {
+	if body.len > 0 && (body[0] == `x` || body[0] == `X`) {
+		return body.len - 1 > 6
 	}
-	if entity_digits.len == 0 {
-		return false
-	}
-	limit := u64(0x10ffff)
-	mut v := u64(0)
-	for i := 0; i < entity_digits.len; i++ {
-		c := entity_digits[i]
-		mut d := u64(0)
-		if c >= `0` && c <= `9` {
-			d = u64(c - `0`)
-		} else if base == 16 && c >= `a` && c <= `f` {
-			d = u64(c - `a`) + 10
-		} else if base == 16 && c >= `A` && c <= `F` {
-			d = u64(c - `A`) + 10
-		} else {
-			return false
-		}
-		if v > (limit - d) / u64(base) {
-			return true
-		}
-		v = v * u64(base) + d
-	}
-	return v > limit
+	return body.len > 7
 }
 
 // parse_newline handles a newline character.