diff --git a/test/api/unit/libs/highlightMentions.test.js b/test/api/unit/libs/highlightMentions.test.js
index a68cd9d6d7..678f2d7178 100644
--- a/test/api/unit/libs/highlightMentions.test.js
+++ b/test/api/unit/libs/highlightMentions.test.js
@@ -105,4 +105,18 @@ describe('highlightMentions', () => {
       expect(result[0]).to.equal('[@user](/profile/111) `@user`');
     });
   });
+
+  it('github issue 12118, method crashes when square brackets are used', async () => {
+    const text = '[test]';
+
+    let err;
+
+    try {
+      await highlightMentions(text);
+    } catch (e) {
+      err = e;
+    }
+
+    expect(err).to.be.undefined;
+  });
 });
diff --git a/website/server/libs/highlightMentions.js b/website/server/libs/highlightMentions.js
index a50c490593..9876522060 100644
--- a/website/server/libs/highlightMentions.js
+++ b/website/server/libs/highlightMentions.js
@@ -76,7 +76,9 @@ function createCodeBlockRegex ({ content, type, markup }) {
  */
 function findTextAndCodeBlocks (text) {
   // For token description see https://markdown-it.github.io/markdown-it/#Token
-  const tokens = habiticaMarkdown.parse(text);
+  // The second parameter is mandatory even if not used, see
+  // https://markdown-it.github.io/markdown-it/#MarkdownIt.parse
+  const tokens = habiticaMarkdown.parse(text, {});
   const codeBlocks = findCodeBlocks(tokens);
 
   const blocks = [];