diff --git a/puppetboard/core.py b/puppetboard/core.py
index 4d43b7d0..ea8c8f7b 100644
--- a/puppetboard/core.py
+++ b/puppetboard/core.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 from flask import Flask
 from flask_caching import Cache
 from flask_apscheduler import APScheduler
+from markupsafe import escape
 from pypuppetdb import connect
 
 from puppetboard.utils import (get_or_abort, jsonprint,
@@ -247,3 +248,20 @@ def to_html(message: str) -> str:
                      r"(file: \1, line: \2)", message)
 
     return message
+
+
+def get_error_html(node_name, source, message, show_error_as):
+
+    # sanitize the data from PuppetDB first,
+    # as we will add some HTML tags in the functions below and don't want these
+    # to be escaped
+    safe_source = escape(source)
+    safe_message = escape(message)
+
+    # enrich the message using HTML
+    if show_error_as == 'friendly':
+        error_html = to_html(get_friendly_error(safe_source, safe_message, node_name))
+    else:
+        error_html = get_raw_error(safe_source, safe_message)
+
+    return error_html
diff --git a/puppetboard/templates/report.html b/puppetboard/templates/report.html
index f2ca19d2..3df36640 100644
--- a/puppetboard/templates/report.html
+++ b/puppetboard/templates/report.html
@@ -108,9 +108,9 @@ <h1 id="metrics">Metrics</h1>
           }
         },
         { data: 'level', name: 'level' },
-        { data: 'source', name: 'source', visible: false },
+        { data: 'source', name: 'source', visible: false, render: DataTable.render.text() },
         { data: 'tags', name: 'tags', visible: false },
-        { data: 'message', name: 'message' },
+        { data: 'message', name: 'message' }, // HTML for this column is sanitized in get_message()
         // see also the comment about these columns in reports.py
         { data: 'location', name: 'location', visible: false },
         { data: 'short_location', name: 'short_location' },
@@ -176,10 +176,10 @@ <h1 id="metrics">Metrics</h1>
 
     "data": events,
     'columns': [
-        { data: 'resource' },
+        { data: 'resource', render: DataTable.render.text() },
         { data: 'status' },
-        { data: 'old' },
-        { data: 'new' },
+        { data: 'old', render: DataTable.render.text() },
+        { data: 'new', render: DataTable.render.text() },
     ],
 
     "ordering": false,
diff --git a/puppetboard/views/failures.py b/puppetboard/views/failures.py
index d31c7b79..63dd4ace 100644
--- a/puppetboard/views/failures.py
+++ b/puppetboard/views/failures.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 from flask import Response, stream_with_context, abort
 from pypuppetdb.QueryBuilder import AndOperator, EqualsOperator
 
-from puppetboard.core import get_app, get_puppetdb, environments, stream_template, to_html, \
-    get_friendly_error, get_raw_error
+from puppetboard.core import get_app, get_puppetdb, environments, \
+    stream_template, get_error_html
 from puppetboard.utils import check_env, yield_or_stop
 
 app = get_app()
@@ -55,12 +55,9 @@ def failures(env: str, show_error_as: str):
                     break
 
         if source and message:
-            if show_error_as == 'friendly':
-                error = to_html(get_friendly_error(source, message, node.name))
-            else:
-                error = get_raw_error(source, message)
+            error = get_error_html(node.name, source, message, show_error_as)
         else:
-            error = to_html(f'Node {node.name} is failing but we could not find the errors')
+            error = f'Node {node.name} is failing but we could not find the errors'
 
         failure = {
             'certname': node.name,
diff --git a/puppetboard/views/reports.py b/puppetboard/views/reports.py
index 47dd6d94..05e56733 100644
--- a/puppetboard/views/reports.py
+++ b/puppetboard/views/reports.py
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@
                                      EqualsOperator, OrOperator,
                                      LessEqualOperator, RegexOperator, GreaterEqualOperator)
 
-from puppetboard.core import get_app, get_puppetdb, environments, REPORTS_COLUMNS, to_html, \
-    get_raw_error, get_friendly_error
+from puppetboard.core import get_app, get_puppetdb, environments, \
+    REPORTS_COLUMNS, get_error_html
 from puppetboard.utils import (check_env, get_or_abort)
 
 app = get_app()
@@ -179,12 +179,6 @@ def get_short_location(location: str) -> str:
     return location
 
 
-def get_message(node_name, log, show_error_as):
-    if show_error_as == 'friendly':
-        error = to_html(get_friendly_error(log['source'], log['message'], node_name))
-    else:
-        error = get_raw_error(log['source'], log['message'])
-    return error
 
 
 @app.route('/report/<node_name>/<report_id>',
@@ -254,7 +248,7 @@ def report(env, node_name, report_id, show_error_as):
         'level': log["level"],
         'source': log['source'],
         'tags': ', '.join(log['tags']),
-        'message': get_message(node_name, log, show_error_as),
+        'message': get_error_html(node_name, log['source'], log['message'], show_error_as),
         'location': get_location(log),
         # this could be also done with a different rendered in DataTables,
         # - feel free to refactor it into that if you know how