feat(email): open external links in a new tab (safely)

External web links (http/https) in rendered email bodies open in a new browser
tab with target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer". mailto:, tel:, and in-page
#anchors keep their default behavior instead of spawning a blank tab.

The plaintext render path is already handled on main by #594 (ADD_URI_SAFE_ATTR
in PLAIN_TEXT_RENDERED_CONFIG), so this no longer adds its own hook there — the
plaintext linkifier only ever emits http(s) anchors, so the config's declarative
exemption is sufficient. This change covers the paths #594 did not:

- iframe HTML render: both anchor passes (the DOMPurify hook and the post-render
  DOM walk in email-viewer.tsx) set target=_blank on EVERY <a>, including
  mailto:/tel:. Now scoped to http(s) via the shared applyNewTabToAnchor()
  helper (http/https -> target+rel; mailto/tel/#/other -> strip target/rel).
- sanitizeI18nHtml: the same DOMPurify strip dropped target/rel from translated
  links (e.g. the docs link in settings.security.not_available, target="_blank"
  in 19/22 locales). Keep the author's target and harden rel="noopener
  noreferrer".

Tests: unit coverage for isHttpLinkHref / applyNewTabToAnchor / sanitizeI18nHtml
plus an integration suite over the real plaintext and HTML/iframe render
pipelines. The plaintext-hook-specific cases are dropped as redundant with #594.

Author: hildebrandttk

components/email/email-viewer.tsx

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import DOMPurify from "dompurify";
 import { Email, ContactCard, Mailbox } from "@/lib/jmap/types";
 import { emailExportFilename, attachmentDownloadFilename, attachmentsBundleFilename, DEFAULT_EMAIL_TEMPLATE, DEFAULT_ATTACHMENT_TEMPLATE } from "@/lib/download-filename";
 import { EML_IMPORT_ACCEPT, expandImportableEmails } from "@/lib/eml-import";
-import { EMAIL_IFRAME_SANITIZE_CONFIG, blockExternalResourcesOnNode, collapseBlockedImageContainers, escapeHtml, plainTextToSafeHtml, sanitizeEmailHtml, sanitizePlainTextRenderedHtml } from "@/lib/email-sanitization";
+import { EMAIL_IFRAME_SANITIZE_CONFIG, applyNewTabToAnchor, blockExternalResourcesOnNode, collapseBlockedImageContainers, escapeHtml, plainTextToSafeHtml, sanitizeEmailHtml, sanitizePlainTextRenderedHtml } from "@/lib/email-sanitization";
 import { hasMeaningfulHtmlBody } from "@/lib/signature-utils";
 import { withBasePath } from "@/lib/browser-navigation";
 import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
@@ -1662,10 +1662,8 @@ export function EmailViewer({
             }
           }
 
-          if (node.tagName === 'A') {
-            node.setAttribute('target', '_blank');
-            node.setAttribute('rel', 'noopener noreferrer');
-          }
+          // http(s) links open in a new tab; other schemes keep their default.
+          applyNewTabToAnchor(node);
 
           // No dark mode color transforms - emails render true-to-life in iframe
         });
@@ -2280,11 +2278,9 @@ export function EmailViewer({
           }
         });
 
-        // Make links open in new tab
-        doc.querySelectorAll('a').forEach(a => {
-          a.setAttribute('target', '_blank');
-          a.setAttribute('rel', 'noopener noreferrer');
-        });
+        // Second pass over the rendered iframe DOM (the hook above only sees
+        // DOMPurify's output); http(s) → new tab, other schemes left in place.
+        doc.querySelectorAll('a').forEach(applyNewTabToAnchor);
 
         // Plugin intercept: let plugins cancel or rewrite external links inside
         // the email body before navigation happens. Bound on the iframe doc so

lib/__tests__/email-link-targets.integration.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import DOMPurify from 'dompurify';
+import {
+  EMAIL_IFRAME_SANITIZE_CONFIG,
+  applyNewTabToAnchor,
+  plainTextToSafeHtml,
+  sanitizePlainTextRenderedHtml,
+  parseHtmlSafely,
+} from '../email-sanitization';
+
+/**
+ * Regression guard for "email links open in a new tab". The at-risk links are
+ * generated by linkification (not in the source) and DOMPurify was silently
+ * stripping their target/rel, so they opened in the same tab. Drives both real
+ * EmailViewer pipelines end-to-end — plaintext and HTML/iframe — so it can't
+ * regress unnoticed.
+ */
+
+/** Reproduce the EmailViewer iframe pipeline for an HTML body. */
+function renderIframeHtml(html: string): Document {
+  DOMPurify.addHook('afterSanitizeAttributes', applyNewTabToAnchor);
+  let clean: string;
+  try {
+    clean = DOMPurify.sanitize(html, EMAIL_IFRAME_SANITIZE_CONFIG);
+  } finally {
+    DOMPurify.removeAllHooks();
+  }
+  const doc = parseHtmlSafely(clean);
+  // Post-render walk, exactly as handleIframeLoad does on the live iframe doc.
+  doc.querySelectorAll('a').forEach(applyNewTabToAnchor);
+  return doc;
+}
+
+/** Reproduce the EmailViewer plaintext pipeline (rendered into the main DOM). */
+function renderPlaintext(text: string): Document {
+  return parseHtmlSafely(sanitizePlainTextRenderedHtml(plainTextToSafeHtml(text)));
+}
+
+const findLink = (doc: Document, hrefIncludes: string): HTMLAnchorElement | undefined =>
+  Array.from(doc.querySelectorAll('a')).find((a) => (a.getAttribute('href') || '').includes(hrefIncludes));
+
+describe('email link new-tab behaviour (integration)', () => {
+  describe('plaintext body (links are generated, not in the source)', () => {
+    it('opens an http(s) URL in a new tab with noopener noreferrer', () => {
+      const doc = renderPlaintext('Please visit https://example.com/welcome today.');
+      const link = findLink(doc, 'example.com');
+      expect(link).toBeTruthy();
+      expect(link!.getAttribute('href')).toBe('https://example.com/welcome');
+      expect(link!.getAttribute('target')).toBe('_blank');
+      expect(link!.getAttribute('rel')).toBe('noopener noreferrer');
+    });
+
+    it('does not turn a bare email address into a new-tab link', () => {
+      const doc = renderPlaintext('Write to foo@bar.com for help.');
+      // plaintext linkification only targets http(s) URLs, never mailto.
+      expect(doc.querySelectorAll('a').length).toBe(0);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('HTML alternative that looks like plaintext (server-generated <a> tags)', () => {
+    it('opens http(s) anchors in a new tab and adds noopener noreferrer', () => {
+      const doc = renderIframeHtml('Hi<br><a href="http://example.org/page">http://example.org/page</a><br>Bye');
+      const link = findLink(doc, 'example.org');
+      expect(link!.getAttribute('target')).toBe('_blank');
+      expect(link!.getAttribute('rel')).toBe('noopener noreferrer');
+    });
+
+    it('does NOT add target=_blank to mailto links', () => {
+      const doc = renderIframeHtml('<a href="mailto:sales@example.com">sales@example.com</a>');
+      const link = findLink(doc, 'mailto:');
+      expect(link).toBeTruthy();
+      expect(link!.getAttribute('target')).toBeNull();
+      expect(link!.getAttribute('rel')).toBeNull();
+    });
+
+    it('does NOT add target=_blank to in-page #anchors', () => {
+      const doc = renderIframeHtml('<a href="#section">jump</a>');
+      const link = findLink(doc, '#section');
+      expect(link!.getAttribute('target')).toBeNull();
+    });
+
+    it('strips an author-supplied target=_blank from a mailto link', () => {
+      const doc = renderIframeHtml('<a href="mailto:x@y.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">x</a>');
+      const link = findLink(doc, 'mailto:');
+      expect(link!.getAttribute('target')).toBeNull();
+    });
+
+    it('handles a mixed body: http gets a new tab, mailto does not', () => {
+      const doc = renderIframeHtml(
+        'See <a href="https://docs.example.com">docs</a> or mail <a href="mailto:hi@example.com">us</a>.',
+      );
+      expect(findLink(doc, 'docs.example.com')!.getAttribute('target')).toBe('_blank');
+      expect(findLink(doc, 'mailto:')!.getAttribute('target')).toBeNull();
+    });
+  });
+});

lib/__tests__/email-sanitization.test.ts

@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ import {
   EMAIL_SANITIZE_CONFIG,
   EMAIL_IFRAME_SANITIZE_CONFIG,
   isExternalResourceUrl,
+  isHttpLinkHref,
+  applyNewTabToAnchor,
+  sanitizeI18nHtml,
   decodeCssEscapes,
   styleHasExternalUrl,
   stripExternalCssUrls,
@@ -360,6 +363,85 @@ describe('email-sanitization', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  describe('isHttpLinkHref (open-in-new-tab eligibility)', () => {
+    it('treats http(s) and protocol-relative links as new-tab links', () => {
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('https://example.com/page')).toBe(true);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('http://example.com/page')).toBe(true);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('//example.com/page')).toBe(true);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('HTTPS://EXAMPLE.COM')).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('sees through obfuscated schemes (leading/embedded whitespace)', () => {
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('\n\nhttps://example.com')).toBe(true);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('  \t https://example.com')).toBe(true);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('h\nttps://example.com')).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('excludes mailto and other non-web schemes (must NOT open a new tab)', () => {
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('mailto:someone@example.com')).toBe(false);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('mailto:someone@example.com?subject=Hi')).toBe(false);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('tel:+15551234567')).toBe(false);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('sms:+15551234567')).toBe(false);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('cid:image001@example.com')).toBe(false);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('#section')).toBe(false);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('/relative/path')).toBe(false);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref('')).toBe(false);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref(null)).toBe(false);
+      expect(isHttpLinkHref(undefined)).toBe(false);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('applyNewTabToAnchor', () => {
+    const anchor = (html: string): HTMLAnchorElement =>
+      parseHtmlSafely(html).querySelector('a')!;
+
+    it('adds target/rel to http(s) links', () => {
+      const a = anchor('<a href="https://example.com">x</a>');
+      applyNewTabToAnchor(a);
+      expect(a.getAttribute('target')).toBe('_blank');
+      expect(a.getAttribute('rel')).toBe('noopener noreferrer');
+    });
+
+    it('strips target/rel from mailto links', () => {
+      const a = anchor('<a href="mailto:a@b.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">x</a>');
+      applyNewTabToAnchor(a);
+      expect(a.getAttribute('target')).toBeNull();
+      expect(a.getAttribute('rel')).toBeNull();
+    });
+
+    it('strips target from tel: and in-page #anchors', () => {
+      const tel = anchor('<a href="tel:+1555" target="_blank">x</a>');
+      applyNewTabToAnchor(tel);
+      expect(tel.getAttribute('target')).toBeNull();
+      const frag = anchor('<a href="#section" target="_blank">x</a>');
+      applyNewTabToAnchor(frag);
+      expect(frag.getAttribute('target')).toBeNull();
+    });
+
+    it('ignores non-anchor elements', () => {
+      const span = parseHtmlSafely('<span target="_blank">x</span>').querySelector('span')!;
+      applyNewTabToAnchor(span);
+      expect(span.getAttribute('target')).toBe('_blank');
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('sanitizeI18nHtml', () => {
+    it('preserves an authored target="_blank" and hardens rel (regression: DOMPurify strips target)', () => {
+      const out = sanitizeI18nHtml(
+        'See the <a href="/docs/guides/account-security" class="underline" target="_blank">documentation</a>.',
+      );
+      expect(out).toContain('target="_blank"');
+      expect(out).toContain('rel="noopener noreferrer"');
+      expect(out).toContain('href="/docs/guides/account-security"');
+    });
+
+    it('leaves links without a target untouched (no spurious new tab)', () => {
+      const out = sanitizeI18nHtml('Go <a href="/settings">here</a>.');
+      expect(out).toContain('href="/settings"');
+      expect(out).not.toContain('target=');
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('decodeCssEscapes', () => {
     it('decodes hex escapes (cssEscape bypass)', () => {
       expect(decodeCssEscapes('\\68ttp://x')).toBe('http://x');

lib/email-sanitization.ts

@@ -154,7 +154,24 @@ const I18N_SANITIZE_CONFIG = {
 };
 
 export function sanitizeI18nHtml(html: string): string {
-  return DOMPurify.sanitize(html, I18N_SANITIZE_CONFIG);
+  // A custom ALLOWED_URI_REGEXP makes DOMPurify strip target/rel from trusted
+  // translated links (e.g. settings.security.not_available's docs link); keep
+  // them, and force rel on _blank to prevent tab-nabbing when the catalog omits it.
+  DOMPurify.addHook('uponSanitizeAttribute', (_node, data) => {
+    if (data.attrName === 'target' || data.attrName === 'rel') {
+      data.forceKeepAttr = true;
+    }
+  });
+  DOMPurify.addHook('afterSanitizeAttributes', (node) => {
+    if (node.tagName === 'A' && node.getAttribute('target') === '_blank') {
+      node.setAttribute('rel', 'noopener noreferrer');
+    }
+  });
+  try {
+    return DOMPurify.sanitize(html, I18N_SANITIZE_CONFIG);
+  } finally {
+    DOMPurify.removeAllHooks();
+  }
 }
 
 /**
@@ -178,6 +195,8 @@ const PLAIN_TEXT_RENDERED_CONFIG = {
 };
 
 export function sanitizePlainTextRenderedHtml(html: string): string {
+  // target/rel survive the URI check via ADD_URI_SAFE_ATTR (#594); the plaintext
+  // linkifier only emits http(s), so no per-scheme handling is needed here.
   return DOMPurify.sanitize(html, PLAIN_TEXT_RENDERED_CONFIG);
 }
 
@@ -208,6 +227,36 @@ export function isExternalResourceUrl(value: string | null | undefined): boolean
 }
 
 
+/**
+ * True for external web links (http/https or protocol-relative `//host`) that
+ * should open in a new tab — unlike `mailto:`/`tel:`/`#fragments`, which navigate
+ * in place or hand off to the OS handler. Strips C0 controls first so obfuscated
+ * schemes (`"h\ttps://x"`) don't slip through.
+ */
+export function isHttpLinkHref(href: string | null | undefined): boolean {
+  if (!href) return false;
+  // eslint-disable-next-line no-control-regex
+  const normalized = href.replace(/[\u0000-\u0020]+/g, '');
+  return /^(?:https?:\/\/|\/\/)/i.test(normalized);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Give one `<a>` the new-tab treatment uniformly across the iframe render paths
+ * (the DOMPurify hook and the post-render DOM walk in email-viewer): http(s)
+ * links get target=_blank + rel; other schemes have them stripped so they don't
+ * spawn a blank tab. (The plaintext path relies on ADD_URI_SAFE_ATTR instead.)
+ */
+export function applyNewTabToAnchor(node: Element): void {
+  if (node.tagName !== 'A') return;
+  if (isHttpLinkHref(node.getAttribute('href'))) {
+    node.setAttribute('target', '_blank');
+    node.setAttribute('rel', 'noopener noreferrer');
+  } else {
+    node.removeAttribute('target');
+    node.removeAttribute('rel');
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Decode CSS escape sequences so escaped tracking URLs can be recognised.
  * `\68ttp://x` and `\000068ttp://x` both decode to `http://x` (the `cssEscape`