diff --git a/src/Parsoid/Cite.php b/src/Parsoid/Cite.php
index d2045952c..94198dad2 100644
--- a/src/Parsoid/Cite.php
+++ b/src/Parsoid/Cite.php
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ class Cite implements ExtensionModule {
 					'name' => 'ref',
 					'handler' => Ref::class,
 					'options' => [
-						'wt2html' => [ 'unpackOutput' => false ],
+						'wt2html' => [
+							'unpackOutput' => false,
+							'embedsHTMLInAttributes' => true
+						],
 						'outputHasCoreMwDomSpecMarkup' => true
 					],
 				],
@@ -30,6 +33,9 @@ class Cite implements ExtensionModule {
 					'name' => 'references',
 					'handler' => References::class,
 					'options' => [
+						'wt2html' => [
+							'embedsHTMLInAttributes' => true
+						],
 						'html2wt' => [ 'format' => 'block' ],
 						'outputHasCoreMwDomSpecMarkup' => true
 					],
diff --git a/src/Parsoid/Ref.php b/src/Parsoid/Ref.php
index 8e36cd2f9..01c40b2af 100644
--- a/src/Parsoid/Ref.php
+++ b/src/Parsoid/Ref.php
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ declare( strict_types = 1 );
 
 namespace Wikimedia\Parsoid\Ext\Cite;
 
+use Closure;
 use Exception;
 use Wikimedia\Parsoid\DOM\DocumentFragment;
 use Wikimedia\Parsoid\DOM\Element;
@@ -54,6 +55,16 @@ class Ref extends ExtensionTagHandler {
 		);
 	}
 
+	/** @inheritDoc */
+	public function processAttributeEmbeddedHTML(
+		ParsoidExtensionAPI $extApi, Element $elt, Closure $proc
+	): void {
+		$dataMw = DOMDataUtils::getDataMw( $elt );
+		if ( isset( $dataMw->body->html ) ) {
+			$dataMw->body->html = $proc( $dataMw->body->html );
+		}
+	}
+
 	/** @inheritDoc */
 	public function lintHandler(
 		ParsoidExtensionAPI $extApi, Element $ref, callable $defaultHandler
diff --git a/src/Parsoid/References.php b/src/Parsoid/References.php
index 28a2307e6..e39be4430 100644
--- a/src/Parsoid/References.php
+++ b/src/Parsoid/References.php
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ declare( strict_types = 1 );
 
 namespace Wikimedia\Parsoid\Ext\Cite;
 
+use Closure;
 use stdClass;
 use Wikimedia\Parsoid\Core\DomSourceRange;
 use Wikimedia\Parsoid\DOM\DocumentFragment;
@@ -795,6 +796,16 @@ class References extends ExtensionTagHandler {
 		return $domFragment;
 	}
 
+	/** @inheritDoc */
+	public function processAttributeEmbeddedHTML(
+		ParsoidExtensionAPI $extApi, Element $elt, Closure $proc
+	): void {
+		$dataMw = DOMDataUtils::getDataMw( $elt );
+		if ( isset( $dataMw->body->html ) ) {
+			$dataMw->body->html = $proc( $dataMw->body->html );
+		}
+	}
+
 	/** @inheritDoc */
 	public function domToWikitext(
 		ParsoidExtensionAPI $extApi, Element $node, bool $wrapperUnmodified