diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 49fe3a22b0c..c7d124a1f17 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1707,7 +1707,6 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL([ENABLE_QT_TESTS], [test "$BUILD_TEST_QT" = "yes"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([ENABLE_BENCH], [test "$use_bench" = "yes"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([USE_QRCODE], [test "$use_qr" = "yes"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([USE_LCOV], [test "$use_lcov" = "yes"])
-AM_CONDITIONAL([USE_LIBEVENT], [test "$use_libevent" = "yes"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([HARDEN], [test "$use_hardening" = "yes"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([ENABLE_SSE42], [test "$enable_sse42" = "yes"])
 AM_CONDITIONAL([ENABLE_SSE41], [test "$enable_sse41" = "yes"])
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index f48ed4d4425..c2e0c7b5b87 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -679,6 +679,7 @@ libbitcoin_common_a_SOURCES = \
   common/run_command.cpp \
   common/settings.cpp \
   common/system.cpp \
+  common/url.cpp \
   compressor.cpp \
   core_read.cpp \
   core_write.cpp \
@@ -711,11 +712,6 @@ libbitcoin_common_a_SOURCES = \
   script/solver.cpp \
   warnings.cpp \
   $(BITCOIN_CORE_H)
-
-if USE_LIBEVENT
-libbitcoin_common_a_CPPFLAGS += $(EVENT_CFLAGS)
-libbitcoin_common_a_SOURCES += common/url.cpp
-endif
 #
 
 # util #
diff --git a/src/Makefile.test.include b/src/Makefile.test.include
index cf88a02b95f..942e0bf69b3 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.test.include
+++ b/src/Makefile.test.include
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ BITCOIN_TESTS =\
   test/checkqueue_tests.cpp \
   test/coins_tests.cpp \
   test/coinstatsindex_tests.cpp \
+  test/common_url_tests.cpp \
   test/compilerbug_tests.cpp \
   test/compress_tests.cpp \
   test/crypto_tests.cpp \
diff --git a/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp b/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp
index 161d703282e..8901d10ef63 100644
--- a/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp
+++ b/src/bitcoin-cli.cpp
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 #include <clientversion.h>
 #include <common/args.h>
 #include <common/system.h>
-#include <common/url.h>
 #include <compat/compat.h>
 #include <compat/stdin.h>
 #include <policy/feerate.h>
@@ -51,7 +50,6 @@
 using CliClock = std::chrono::system_clock;
 
 const std::function<std::string(const char*)> G_TRANSLATION_FUN = nullptr;
-UrlDecodeFn* const URL_DECODE = urlDecode;
 
 static const char DEFAULT_RPCCONNECT[] = "127.0.0.1";
 static const int DEFAULT_HTTP_CLIENT_TIMEOUT=900;
diff --git a/src/bitcoin-wallet.cpp b/src/bitcoin-wallet.cpp
index d5dfbbec271..fe90958a5f5 100644
--- a/src/bitcoin-wallet.cpp
+++ b/src/bitcoin-wallet.cpp
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 #include <clientversion.h>
 #include <common/args.h>
 #include <common/system.h>
-#include <common/url.h>
 #include <compat/compat.h>
 #include <interfaces/init.h>
 #include <key.h>
@@ -28,7 +27,6 @@
 #include <tuple>
 
 const std::function<std::string(const char*)> G_TRANSLATION_FUN = nullptr;
-UrlDecodeFn* const URL_DECODE = nullptr;
 
 static void SetupWalletToolArgs(ArgsManager& argsman)
 {
diff --git a/src/bitcoind.cpp b/src/bitcoind.cpp
index 4f0a816388e..54796c5abbf 100644
--- a/src/bitcoind.cpp
+++ b/src/bitcoind.cpp
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 #include <common/args.h>
 #include <common/init.h>
 #include <common/system.h>
-#include <common/url.h>
 #include <compat/compat.h>
 #include <init.h>
 #include <interfaces/chain.h>
@@ -35,7 +34,6 @@
 using node::NodeContext;
 
 const std::function<std::string(const char*)> G_TRANSLATION_FUN = nullptr;
-UrlDecodeFn* const URL_DECODE = urlDecode;
 
 #if HAVE_DECL_FORK
 
diff --git a/src/common/url.cpp b/src/common/url.cpp
index 053e1a825c5..ecf88d07ea5 100644
--- a/src/common/url.cpp
+++ b/src/common/url.cpp
@@ -4,19 +4,36 @@
 
 #include <common/url.h>
 
-#include <event2/http.h>
-
-#include <cstdlib>
+#include <charconv>
 #include <string>
+#include <string_view>
+#include <system_error>
 
-std::string urlDecode(const std::string &urlEncoded) {
+std::string UrlDecode(std::string_view url_encoded)
+{
     std::string res;
-    if (!urlEncoded.empty()) {
-        char *decoded = evhttp_uridecode(urlEncoded.c_str(), false, nullptr);
-        if (decoded) {
-            res = std::string(decoded);
-            free(decoded);
+    res.reserve(url_encoded.size());
+
+    for (size_t i = 0; i < url_encoded.size(); ++i) {
+        char c = url_encoded[i];
+        // Special handling for percent which should be followed by two hex digits
+        // representing an octet values, see RFC 3986, Section 2.1 Percent-Encoding
+        if (c == '%' && i + 2 < url_encoded.size()) {
+            unsigned int decoded_value{0};
+            auto [p, ec] = std::from_chars(url_encoded.data() + i + 1, url_encoded.data() + i + 3, decoded_value, 16);
+
+            // Only if there is no error and the pointer is set to the end of
+            // the string, we can be sure both characters were valid hex
+            if (ec == std::errc{} && p == url_encoded.data() + i + 3) {
+                res += static_cast<char>(decoded_value);
+                // Next two characters are part of the percent encoding
+                i += 2;
+                continue;
+            }
+            // In case of invalid percent encoding, add the '%' and continue
         }
+        res += c;
     }
+
     return res;
 }
diff --git a/src/common/url.h b/src/common/url.h
index b16b8241af5..203f41c70f2 100644
--- a/src/common/url.h
+++ b/src/common/url.h
@@ -6,9 +6,12 @@
 #define BITCOIN_COMMON_URL_H
 
 #include <string>
+#include <string_view>
 
-using UrlDecodeFn = std::string(const std::string& url_encoded);
-UrlDecodeFn urlDecode;
-extern UrlDecodeFn* const URL_DECODE;
+/* Decode a URL.
+ *
+ * Notably this implementation does not decode a '+' to a ' '.
+ */
+std::string UrlDecode(std::string_view url_encoded);
 
 #endif // BITCOIN_COMMON_URL_H
diff --git a/src/qt/main.cpp b/src/qt/main.cpp
index ded057dbfaf..16befd99e89 100644
--- a/src/qt/main.cpp
+++ b/src/qt/main.cpp
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 
 #include <qt/bitcoin.h>
 
-#include <common/url.h>
 #include <compat/compat.h>
 #include <util/translation.h>
 
@@ -17,7 +16,6 @@
 extern const std::function<std::string(const char*)> G_TRANSLATION_FUN = [](const char* psz) {
     return QCoreApplication::translate("bitcoin-core", psz).toStdString();
 };
-UrlDecodeFn* const URL_DECODE = urlDecode;
 
 const std::function<std::string()> G_TEST_GET_FULL_NAME{};
 
diff --git a/src/test/common_url_tests.cpp b/src/test/common_url_tests.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cc893cbed72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/common_url_tests.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2024-present The Bitcoin Core developers
+// Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
+// file COPYING or https://opensource.org/license/mit/.
+
+#include <common/url.h>
+
+#include <string>
+
+#include <boost/test/unit_test.hpp>
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE(common_url_tests)
+
+// These test vectors were ported from test/regress.c in the libevent library
+// which used to be a dependency of the UrlDecode function.
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(encode_decode_test) {
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("Hello"), "Hello");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("99"), "99");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode(""), "");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ123456789-.~_"),
+                      "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ123456789-.~_");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%20"), " ");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%FF%F0%E0"), "\xff\xf0\xe0");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%01%19"), "\x01\x19");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ietf.org%2Frfc%2Frfc3986.txt"),
+                      "http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("1%2B2%3D3"), "1+2=3");
+}
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(decode_malformed_test) {
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%%xhello th+ere \xff"), "%%xhello th+ere \xff");
+
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%"), "%");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%%"), "%%");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%%%"), "%%%");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%%%%"), "%%%%");
+
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("+"), "+");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("++"), "++");
+
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("?"), "?");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("??"), "??");
+
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%G1"), "%G1");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%2"), "%2");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%ZX"), "%ZX");
+
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("valid%20string%G1"), "valid string%G1");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%20invalid%ZX"), " invalid%ZX");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%20%G1%ZX"), " %G1%ZX");
+
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%1 "), "%1 ");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("% 9"), "% 9");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode(" %Z "), " %Z ");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode(" % X"), " % X");
+
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%-1"), "%-1");
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%1-"), "%1-");
+}
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(decode_lowercase_hex_test) {
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%f0%a0%b0"), "\xf0\xa0\xb0");
+}
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(decode_internal_nulls_test) {
+    std::string result1{"\0\0x\0\0", 5};
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("%00%00x%00%00"), result1);
+    std::string result2{"abc\0\0", 5};
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(UrlDecode("abc%00%00"), result2);
+}
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_SUITE_END()
diff --git a/src/test/fuzz/string.cpp b/src/test/fuzz/string.cpp
index e81efac6e0d..631da13803a 100644
--- a/src/test/fuzz/string.cpp
+++ b/src/test/fuzz/string.cpp
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ FUZZ_TARGET(string)
     (void)ToUpper(random_string_1);
     (void)TrimString(random_string_1);
     (void)TrimString(random_string_1, random_string_2);
-    (void)urlDecode(random_string_1);
+    (void)UrlDecode(random_string_1);
     (void)ContainsNoNUL(random_string_1);
     (void)_(random_string_1.c_str());
     try {
diff --git a/src/test/util/setup_common.cpp b/src/test/util/setup_common.cpp
index 2c18184261e..38350b33cc5 100644
--- a/src/test/util/setup_common.cpp
+++ b/src/test/util/setup_common.cpp
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 #include <banman.h>
 #include <chainparams.h>
 #include <common/system.h>
-#include <common/url.h>
 #include <consensus/consensus.h>
 #include <consensus/params.h>
 #include <consensus/validation.h>
@@ -81,7 +80,6 @@ using node::RegenerateCommitments;
 using node::VerifyLoadedChainstate;
 
 const std::function<std::string(const char*)> G_TRANSLATION_FUN = nullptr;
-UrlDecodeFn* const URL_DECODE = nullptr;
 
 /** Random context to get unique temp data dirs. Separate from g_insecure_rand_ctx, which can be seeded from a const env var */
 static FastRandomContext g_insecure_rand_ctx_temp_path;
diff --git a/src/wallet/rpc/util.cpp b/src/wallet/rpc/util.cpp
index 06ec7db1bc2..1252843e9d0 100644
--- a/src/wallet/rpc/util.cpp
+++ b/src/wallet/rpc/util.cpp
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include <wallet/context.h>
 #include <wallet/wallet.h>
 
+#include <string_view>
 #include <univalue.h>
 
 #include <boost/date_time/posix_time/posix_time.hpp>
@@ -61,9 +62,9 @@ bool ParseIncludeWatchonly(const UniValue& include_watchonly, const CWallet& wal
 
 bool GetWalletNameFromJSONRPCRequest(const JSONRPCRequest& request, std::string& wallet_name)
 {
-    if (URL_DECODE && request.URI.substr(0, WALLET_ENDPOINT_BASE.size()) == WALLET_ENDPOINT_BASE) {
+    if (request.URI.starts_with(WALLET_ENDPOINT_BASE)) {
         // wallet endpoint was used
-        wallet_name = URL_DECODE(request.URI.substr(WALLET_ENDPOINT_BASE.size()));
+        wallet_name = UrlDecode(std::string_view{request.URI}.substr(WALLET_ENDPOINT_BASE.size()));
         return true;
     }
     return false;