diff --git a/src/Lexer.ts b/src/Lexer.ts
index 64cbe8101c..ecf81e1381 100644
--- a/src/Lexer.ts
+++ b/src/Lexer.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ export class _Lexer<ParserOutput = string, RendererOutput = string> {
   state: {
     inLink: boolean;
     inRawBlock: boolean;
+    /** a link was produced in the inline run currently being scanned */
+    linkEmitted: boolean;
     top: boolean;
   };
 
@@ -33,6 +35,7 @@ export class _Lexer<ParserOutput = string, RendererOutput = string> {
     this.state = {
       inLink: false,
       inRawBlock: false,
+      linkEmitted: false,
       top: true,
     };
 
diff --git a/src/Tokenizer.ts b/src/Tokenizer.ts
index d4176e0650..666284c78c 100644
--- a/src/Tokenizer.ts
+++ b/src/Tokenizer.ts
@@ -11,22 +11,42 @@ import type { _Lexer } from './Lexer.ts';
 import type { Links, Tokens, Token } from './Tokens.ts';
 import type { MarkedOptions } from './MarkedOptions.ts';
 
-function outputLink(cap: string[], link: Pick<Tokens.Link, 'href' | 'title'>, raw: string, lexer: _Lexer, rules: Rules): Tokens.Link | Tokens.Image {
+function outputLink(cap: string[], link: Pick<Tokens.Link, 'href' | 'title'>, raw: string, lexer: _Lexer, rules: Rules): Tokens.Link | Tokens.Image | undefined {
   const href = link.href;
   const title = link.title || null;
   const text = cap[1].replace(rules.other.outputLinkReplace, '$1');
+  const isImage = cap[0].charAt(0) === '!';
 
   lexer.state.inLink = true;
-  const token: Tokens.Link | Tokens.Image = {
-    type: cap[0].charAt(0) === '!' ? 'image' : 'link',
+  const outerLinkEmitted = lexer.state.linkEmitted;
+  const outerInRawBlock = lexer.state.inRawBlock;
+  lexer.state.linkEmitted = false;
+  const tokens = lexer.inlineTokens(text);
+  const textHasLink = lexer.state.linkEmitted;
+  lexer.state.linkEmitted = outerLinkEmitted;
+  lexer.state.inLink = false;
+
+  if (!isImage) {
+    // CommonMark: "Links may not contain other links, at any level of nesting."
+    // Bail so the caller falls through to text and the inner link is the one kept.
+    // Images are exempt: their text is flattened into an alt attribute.
+    if (textHasLink) {
+      // these tokens are discarded, so undo the raw-block state they opened;
+      // leaving it set would suppress escaping for the text that is re-scanned
+      lexer.state.inRawBlock = outerInRawBlock;
+      return;
+    }
+    lexer.state.linkEmitted = true;
+  }
+
+  return {
+    type: isImage ? 'image' : 'link',
     raw,
     href,
     title,
     text,
-    tokens: lexer.inlineTokens(text),
+    tokens,
   };
-  lexer.state.inLink = false;
-  return token;
 }
 
 function indentCodeCompensation(raw: string, text: string, rules: Rules) {
diff --git a/test/specs/commonmark/commonmark.0.31.2.json b/test/specs/commonmark/commonmark.0.31.2.json
index 6e14498b06..4e348a4a1c 100644
--- a/test/specs/commonmark/commonmark.0.31.2.json
+++ b/test/specs/commonmark/commonmark.0.31.2.json
@@ -4145,8 +4145,7 @@
     "example": 518,
     "start_line": 7886,
     "end_line": 7890,
-    "section": "Links",
-    "shouldFail": true
+    "section": "Links"
   },
   {
     "markdown": "[foo *[bar [baz](/uri)](/uri)*](/uri)\n",
@@ -4154,8 +4153,7 @@
     "example": 519,
     "start_line": 7893,
     "end_line": 7897,
-    "section": "Links",
-    "shouldFail": true
+    "section": "Links"
   },
   {
     "markdown": "![[[foo](uri1)](uri2)](uri3)\n",
@@ -4263,8 +4261,7 @@
     "example": 532,
     "start_line": 8044,
     "end_line": 8050,
-    "section": "Links",
-    "shouldFail": true
+    "section": "Links"
   },
   {
     "markdown": "[foo *bar [baz][ref]*][ref]\n\n[ref]: /uri\n",
diff --git a/test/specs/gfm/commonmark.0.31.2.json b/test/specs/gfm/commonmark.0.31.2.json
index c8ffbc1495..47d0a2256a 100644
--- a/test/specs/gfm/commonmark.0.31.2.json
+++ b/test/specs/gfm/commonmark.0.31.2.json
@@ -4145,8 +4145,7 @@
     "example": 518,
     "start_line": 7886,
     "end_line": 7890,
-    "section": "Links",
-    "shouldFail": true
+    "section": "Links"
   },
   {
     "markdown": "[foo *[bar [baz](/uri)](/uri)*](/uri)\n",
@@ -4154,8 +4153,7 @@
     "example": 519,
     "start_line": 7893,
     "end_line": 7897,
-    "section": "Links",
-    "shouldFail": true
+    "section": "Links"
   },
   {
     "markdown": "![[[foo](uri1)](uri2)](uri3)\n",
@@ -4263,8 +4261,7 @@
     "example": 532,
     "start_line": 8044,
     "end_line": 8050,
-    "section": "Links",
-    "shouldFail": true
+    "section": "Links"
   },
   {
     "markdown": "[foo *bar [baz][ref]*][ref]\n\n[ref]: /uri\n",
diff --git a/test/specs/new/link_in_link_text.html b/test/specs/new/link_in_link_text.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8b5c5b890c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/specs/new/link_in_link_text.html
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<p><a href="/uri">foo [bar]</a></p>
+<p><a href="/uri">foo <a href="https://example.com/">https://example.com/</a></a></p>
+<p><img src="uri2" alt="foo" /></p>
diff --git a/test/specs/new/link_in_link_text.md b/test/specs/new/link_in_link_text.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2dad8506ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/specs/new/link_in_link_text.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+[foo [bar]][ref]
+
+[foo <https://example.com/>](/uri)
+
+![[foo](uri1)](uri2)
+
+[ref]: /uri
diff --git a/test/unit/marked.test.js b/test/unit/marked.test.js
index 07e58f8578..5d1449b4aa 100644
--- a/test/unit/marked.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/marked.test.js
@@ -58,6 +58,19 @@ describe('marked unit', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  describe('link in link text', () => {
+    // the spec fixtures cover the nesting itself, but the differ they run through
+    // normalizes entities, so this one needs an exact-string assertion
+    it('should still escape text before a raw block opener in a rejected link', () => {
+      // the rejected link text is tokenized once and thrown away; that pass must
+      // not leave `inRawBlock` set, or the re-scan emits this text unescaped
+      assert.strictEqual(
+        marked.parse('[a & b <pre> [x](/uri)](/uri)').trim(),
+        '<p>[a &amp; b <pre> <a href="/uri">x</a>](/uri)</p>',
+      );
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('use extension', () => {
     it('should use custom block tokenizer + renderer extensions', () => {
       const underline = {