diff --git a/client/app/scripts/charts/edge.js b/client/app/scripts/charts/edge.js
index ae0320a152..7d31aae8a3 100644
--- a/client/app/scripts/charts/edge.js
+++ b/client/app/scripts/charts/edge.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { connect } from 'react-redux';
 import classNames from 'classnames';
 
 import { enterEdge, leaveEdge } from '../actions/app-actions';
+import { encodeIdAttribute, decodeIdAttribute } from '../utils/dom-utils';
 
 class Edge extends React.Component {
 
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ class Edge extends React.Component {
 
     return (
       <g
-        id={id} className={className}
+        id={encodeIdAttribute(id)} className={className}
         onMouseEnter={this.handleMouseEnter}
         onMouseLeave={this.handleMouseLeave}
       >
@@ -35,11 +36,11 @@ class Edge extends React.Component {
   }
 
   handleMouseEnter(ev) {
-    this.props.enterEdge(ev.currentTarget.id);
+    this.props.enterEdge(decodeIdAttribute(ev.currentTarget.id));
   }
 
   handleMouseLeave(ev) {
-    this.props.leaveEdge(ev.currentTarget.id);
+    this.props.leaveEdge(decodeIdAttribute(ev.currentTarget.id));
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/client/app/scripts/charts/node-shapes.js b/client/app/scripts/charts/node-shapes.js
index f73545d864..42d7b3e3d9 100644
--- a/client/app/scripts/charts/node-shapes.js
+++ b/client/app/scripts/charts/node-shapes.js
@@ -20,13 +20,14 @@ import {
   octagonShapeProps,
   cloudShapeProps,
 } from '../utils/node-shape-utils';
+import { encodeIdAttribute } from '../utils/dom-utils';
 
 
 function NodeShape(shapeType, shapeElement, shapeProps, { id, highlighted, color, metric }) {
   const { height, hasMetric, formattedValue } = getMetricValue(metric);
   const className = classNames('shape', `shape-${shapeType}`, { metrics: hasMetric });
   const metricStyle = { fill: getMetricColor(metric) };
-  const clipId = `metric-clip-${id}`;
+  const clipId = encodeIdAttribute(`metric-clip-${id}`);
 
   return (
     <g className={className}>
diff --git a/client/app/scripts/utils/__tests__/dom-utils-test.js b/client/app/scripts/utils/__tests__/dom-utils-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..17a59a9ddd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/app/scripts/utils/__tests__/dom-utils-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import { encodeIdAttribute, decodeIdAttribute } from '../dom-utils';
+
+describe('DomUtils', () => {
+  describe('encodeIdAttribute/decodeIdAttribute', () => {
+    it('encode should be reversible by decode ', () => {
+      [
+        '123-abc;<foo>',
+        ';;<<><>',
+        '!@#$%^&*()+-\'"',
+      ].forEach((input) => {
+        expect(decodeIdAttribute(encodeIdAttribute(input))).toEqual(input);
+      });
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/client/app/scripts/utils/dom-utils.js b/client/app/scripts/utils/dom-utils.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b993a51361
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/app/scripts/utils/dom-utils.js
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+/**
+ * Cleans up a value to be used as an element ID.
+ *
+ * Encodes invalid characters to be valid in XHTML and makes it
+ * so that it can be reversed by {@link decodeIdAttribute}.
+ */
+export function encodeIdAttribute(id) {
+  return id.replace(/[<>&;]/gm, m => `__u${m.charCodeAt(0)}__`);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Reverts {@link encodeIdAttribute}.
+ */
+export function decodeIdAttribute(id) {
+  return id.replace(/__u(\d+)__/gm, (m, d) => String.fromCharCode(d));
+}