diff --git a/server/app.js b/server/app.js
index b419c5cea..8b3e4652b 100644
--- a/server/app.js
+++ b/server/app.js
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ const GoogleActions = require('./googleActions.js');
 const serveCompressedStaticAssets = require('./static-assets.mv.js');
 const sanitizeFilename = require('sanitize-filename');
 const asyncHandler = require('express-async-handler');
+const templateFn = require('./../client/template.js');
 
 const { DEFAULT_BREW } = require('./brewDefaults.js');
 
@@ -420,8 +421,16 @@ if(isLocalEnvironment){
 	});
 }
 
+//Send rendered page
+app.use(asyncHandler(async (req, res, next)=>{
+	if (!req.route) return res.redirect('/'); // Catch-all for invalid routes
+		
+	const page = await renderPage(req, res);
+	if(!page) return;
+	res.send(page);
+}));
+
 //Render the page
-const templateFn = require('./../client/template.js');
 const renderPage = async (req, res)=>{
 	// Create configuration object
 	const configuration = {
@@ -450,13 +459,6 @@ const renderPage = async (req, res)=>{
 	return page;
 };
 
-//Send rendered page
-app.use(asyncHandler(async (req, res, next)=>{
-	const page = await renderPage(req, res);
-	if(!page) return;
-	res.send(page);
-}));
-
 //v=====----- Error-Handling Middleware -----=====v//
 //Format Errors as plain objects so all fields will appear in the string sent
 const formatErrors = (key, value)=>{
diff --git a/shared/naturalcrit/markdown.js b/shared/naturalcrit/markdown.js
index c5d99afcc..2ee99f72b 100644
--- a/shared/naturalcrit/markdown.js
+++ b/shared/naturalcrit/markdown.js
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ renderer.link = function (href, title, text) {
 	if(href[0] == '#') {
 		self = true;
 	}
-	href = cleanUrl(this.options.sanitize, this.options.baseUrl, href);
+	href = cleanUrl(href);
 
 	if(href === null) {
 		return text;
@@ -734,28 +734,14 @@ Marked.use(mustacheInjectBlock);
 Marked.use({ renderer: renderer, tokenizer: tokenizer, mangle: false });
 Marked.use(MarkedExtendedTables(), MarkedGFMHeadingId(), MarkedSmartypantsLite(), MarkedEmojis(MarkedEmojiOptions));
 
-const nonWordAndColonTest = /[^\w:]/g;
-const cleanUrl = function (sanitize, base, href) {
-	if(sanitize) {
-		let prot;
-		try {
-			prot = decodeURIComponent(unescape(href))
-        .replace(nonWordAndColonTest, '')
-        .toLowerCase();
-		} catch (e) {
-			return null;
-		}
-		if(prot.indexOf('javascript:') === 0 || prot.indexOf('vbscript:') === 0 || prot.indexOf('data:') === 0) {
-			return null;
-		}
-	}
-	try {
-		href = encodeURI(href).replace(/%25/g, '%');
-	} catch (e) {
-		return null;
-	}
-	return href;
-};
+function cleanUrl(href) {
+  try {
+    href = encodeURI(href).replace(/%25/g, '%');
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+  return href;
+}
 
 const escapeTest = /[&<>"']/;
 const escapeReplace = /[&<>"']/g;