diff --git a/wp-includes/post-template.php b/wp-includes/post-template.php
index 15d2777191..9f12a2aefb 100644
--- a/wp-includes/post-template.php
+++ b/wp-includes/post-template.php
@@ -1090,9 +1090,10 @@ function post_custom( $key = '' ) {
  *
  * @since 1.2.0
  *
- * @internal This will probably change at some point...
+ * @deprecated 6.0.2 Use get_post_meta() to retrieve post meta and render manually.
  */
 function the_meta() {
+	_deprecated_function( __FUNCTION__, '6.0.2', 'get_post_meta()' );
 	$keys = get_post_custom_keys();
 	if ( $keys ) {
 		$li_html = '';
@@ -1108,8 +1109,8 @@ function the_meta() {
 			$html = sprintf(
 				"<li><span class='post-meta-key'>%s</span> %s</li>\n",
 				/* translators: %s: Post custom field name. */
-				sprintf( _x( '%s:', 'Post custom field name' ), $key ),
-				$value
+				esc_html( sprintf( _x( '%s:', 'Post custom field name' ), $key ) ),
+				esc_html( $value )
 			);
 
 			/**
diff --git a/wp-includes/version.php b/wp-includes/version.php
index 10cd00f425..8e9bee69cd 100644
--- a/wp-includes/version.php
+++ b/wp-includes/version.php
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
  *
  * @global string $wp_version
  */
-$wp_version = '6.1-alpha-53957';
+$wp_version = '6.1-alpha-53958';
 
 /**
  * Holds the WordPress DB revision, increments when changes are made to the WordPress DB schema.