diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/nuxt-link.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/nuxt-link.ts
index 4bd7d8c937..1d384499af 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/nuxt-link.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/nuxt-link.ts
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ export function defineNuxtLink (options: NuxtLinkOptions) {
           return false
         }
 
-        return to.value === '' || hasProtocol(to.value, true)
+        return to.value === '' || hasProtocol(to.value, { acceptRelative: true })
       })
 
       // Prefetching
diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/payload.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/payload.ts
index 523e807e34..2825d431e5 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/payload.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/payload.ts
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ function _getPayloadURL (url: string, opts: LoadPayloadOptions = {}) {
   if (u.search) {
     throw new Error('Payload URL cannot contain search params: ' + url)
   }
-  if (u.host !== 'localhost' || hasProtocol(u.pathname, true)) {
+  if (u.host !== 'localhost' || hasProtocol(u.pathname, { acceptRelative: true })) {
     throw new Error('Payload URL must not include hostname: ' + url)
   }
   const hash = opts.hash || (opts.fresh ? Date.now() : '')
diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/router.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/router.ts
index 8650778a99..ec5897d795 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/router.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/router.ts
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ export const navigateTo = (to: RouteLocationRaw | undefined | null, options?: Na
   }
 
   const toPath = typeof to === 'string' ? to : ((to as RouteLocationPathRaw).path || '/')
-  const isExternal = hasProtocol(toPath, true)
+  const isExternal = hasProtocol(toPath, { acceptRelative: true })
   if (isExternal && !options?.external) {
     throw new Error('Navigating to external URL is not allowed by default. Use `navigateTo (url, { external: true })`.')
   }