diff --git a/docs/guide/api-plugin.md b/docs/guide/api-plugin.md
index b8ef5fb2cc697e..8f99b2c4968636 100644
--- a/docs/guide/api-plugin.md
+++ b/docs/guide/api-plugin.md
@@ -388,6 +388,9 @@ Vite plugins can also provide hooks that serve Vite-specific purposes. These hoo
 
   interface HtmlTagDescriptor {
     tag: string
+    /**
+     * attribute values will be escaped automatically if needed
+     */
     attrs?: Record<string, string | boolean>
     children?: string | HtmlTagDescriptor[]
     /**
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/html.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/html.ts
index 537f58470a9cbd..1591f50233790c 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/html.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/html.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ import MagicString from 'magic-string'
 import colors from 'picocolors'
 import type { DefaultTreeAdapterMap, ParserError, Token } from 'parse5'
 import { stripLiteral } from 'strip-literal'
-import escapeHtml from 'escape-html'
 import type { Plugin } from '../plugin'
 import type { ViteDevServer } from '../server'
 import {
@@ -1057,6 +1056,9 @@ export function extractImportExpressionFromClassicScript(
 
 export interface HtmlTagDescriptor {
   tag: string
+  /**
+   * attribute values will be escaped automatically if needed
+   */
   attrs?: Record<string, string | boolean | undefined>
   children?: string | HtmlTagDescriptor[]
   /**
@@ -1271,7 +1273,10 @@ export function injectNonceAttributeTagHook(
         // is appended prior to the `/`
         const appendOffset = html[startTagEndOffset - 2] === '/' ? 2 : 1
 
-        s.appendRight(startTagEndOffset - appendOffset, ` nonce="${nonce}"`)
+        s.appendRight(
+          startTagEndOffset - appendOffset,
+          ` nonce="${escapeForHtmlDoubleQuoteAttr(nonce)}"`,
+        )
       }
     })
 
@@ -1571,12 +1576,21 @@ function serializeAttrs(attrs: HtmlTagDescriptor['attrs']): string {
     if (typeof attrs[key] === 'boolean') {
       res += attrs[key] ? ` ${key}` : ``
     } else {
-      res += ` ${key}="${escapeHtml(attrs[key])}"`
+      res += ` ${key}="${escapeForHtmlDoubleQuoteAttr(attrs[key]!)}"`
     }
   }
   return res
 }
 
+/**
+ * Escape `"` / `&` which is the minimal set of characters needed to be escaped in double-quoted attributes.
+ *
+ * This is to keep `<` / `>` used by some template engines (e.g. EJS, eRuby, Mako) as interpolation syntax as-is.
+ */
+function escapeForHtmlDoubleQuoteAttr(s: string) {
+  return s.replaceAll('&', '&amp;').replaceAll('"', '&quot;')
+}
+
 function incrementIndent(indent: string = '') {
   return `${indent}${indent[0] === '\t' ? '\t' : '  '}`
 }
diff --git a/playground/html/__tests__/html.spec.ts b/playground/html/__tests__/html.spec.ts
index 55b587f928fe30..f23d2b7739868f 100644
--- a/playground/html/__tests__/html.spec.ts
+++ b/playground/html/__tests__/html.spec.ts
@@ -507,6 +507,11 @@ test('html fallback works non browser accept header', async () => {
 })
 
 test('escape html attribute', async () => {
+  const content = await fetch(viteTestUrl)
+  // only escape double quote and ampersand
+  expect(await content.text()).toContain(
+    `&quot;><div class=unescape-div>extra content'&amp;</div>`,
+  )
   const el = await page.$('.unescape-div')
   expect(el).toBeNull()
 })
diff --git a/playground/html/vite.config.js b/playground/html/vite.config.js
index ff59f5db10a2c5..872ad04ac4e01c 100644
--- a/playground/html/vite.config.js
+++ b/playground/html/vite.config.js
@@ -222,7 +222,8 @@ ${
             {
               tag: 'link',
               attrs: {
-                href: `"><div class=unescape-div>extra content</div>`,
+                class: 'escape-html-attribute',
+                href: `"><div class=unescape-div>extra content'&</div>`,
               },
               injectTo: 'body',
             },