diff --git a/exampleSite/config/_default/params.toml b/exampleSite/config/_default/params.toml
index 86f4e575a2..fb66ededcc 100644
--- a/exampleSite/config/_default/params.toml
+++ b/exampleSite/config/_default/params.toml
@@ -312,6 +312,16 @@ highlightWrap = true
 # Images
 # These options configure how images are displayed.
 
+# What to do when local image link is not resolved.
+# Default: ""
+# You can control what should happen if a local image can not be resolved to as
+# a resource. If not set, the unresolved link is written as given into the resulting
+# output. If set to `warning` the same happens and an additional warning is
+# printed. If set to `error` an error message is printed and the build is
+# aborted.
+# Please note that this can not resolve files inside of your `static` directory.
+image.errorlevel = "warning"
+
 # Image effects.
 # See the documentation for how you can even add your own arbitrary effects to
 # the list.
@@ -329,6 +339,17 @@ imageEffects.shadow = false
 # Links
 # These options configure how links are displayed.
 
+# What to do when local page link is not resolved.
+# Default: ""
+# You can control what should happen if a local link can not be resolved to a
+# page. If not set, the unresolved link is written as given into the resulting
+# output. If set to `warning` the same happens and an additional warning is
+# printed. If set to `error` an error message is printed and the build is
+# aborted.
+# Please note that with Hugo < 0.123.0 + `uglyURLs=true` this can lead to false
+# negatives.
+link.errorlevel = "warning"
+
 # How to open external links.
 # Default: "_blank"
 # For external links you can define how they are opened in your browser. All
diff --git a/exampleSite/content/basics/migration/_index.en.md b/exampleSite/content/basics/migration/_index.en.md
index 8bca33eadb..b72a2d800d 100644
--- a/exampleSite/content/basics/migration/_index.en.md
+++ b/exampleSite/content/basics/migration/_index.en.md
@@ -18,6 +18,16 @@ This document shows you what's new in the latest release and flags it with one o
 
 ---
 
+## 5.24.1 (2024-02-17) {#5241}
+
+- {{% badge style="info" icon="plus-circle" title=" " %}}New{{% /badge %}} If the theme can not resolve a link to a page or image, you can now generate warnings or errors during build by setting `link.errorlevel` or `image.errorlevel` to either `warning` or `error` in your `hugo.toml` respectively. By default this condition is silently ignored and the link is written as-is.
+
+  Please note that a page link will generate false negatives if `uglyURLs=true` and it references an ordinary page before {{% badge color="fuchsia" icon="fab fa-hackerrank" title=" " %}}0.123.0{{% /badge %}}.
+
+  Please note that an image link will generate false negatives if the file resides in your `static` directory.
+
+---
+
 ## 5.24.0 (2024-02-17) {#5240}
 
 - {{% badge color="fuchsia" icon="fab fa-hackerrank" title=" " %}}0.112.4{{% /badge %}} This release requires a newer Hugo version.
diff --git a/layouts/partials/shortcodes/image.html b/layouts/partials/shortcodes/image.html
index 372981892d..642d6f3814 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/shortcodes/image.html
+++ b/layouts/partials/shortcodes/image.html
@@ -30,9 +30,11 @@
     {{- $url = printf "%s?%s" $url $dest_url.RawQuery }}
   {{- end }}
 {{- end }}
-{{- if not $image }}
-  {{- if and ($page.Site.Params.render_hooks.errorlevel "warning")  (not (or (strings.HasPrefix .url "http://") (strings.HasPrefix .url "https://") )) }}
-    {{- warnf "%q: Image %s is not a resource but linked anyways." $page.File.Filename .url }}
+{{- if and (not $image) (not $dest_url.IsAbs) }}
+  {{- if eq $page.Site.Params.image.errorlevel "warning" }}
+    {{- warnf "%q: image '%s' is not a resource but linked anyways" $page.File.Filename .url }}
+  {{- else if eq $page.Site.Params.image.errorlevel "error" }}
+    {{- errorf "%q: image '%s' is not a resource" $page.File.Filename .url }}
   {{- end }}
 {{- end }}
 {{- if $dest_url.RawQuery }}
diff --git a/layouts/partials/shortcodes/link.html b/layouts/partials/shortcodes/link.html
index a4369078c3..b8f9038950 100644
--- a/layouts/partials/shortcodes/link.html
+++ b/layouts/partials/shortcodes/link.html
@@ -59,7 +59,11 @@
       {{- $href = printf "%s#%s" $href . }}
     {{- end }}
   {{- else }}
-    {{- warnf "%q: no page was found for link '%s'" $page.File.Filename $u.Path }}
+    {{- if eq $page.Site.Params.link.errorlevel "warning" }}
+      {{- warnf "%q: link '%s' is not a page but linked anyways" $page.File.Filename $u.Path }}
+    {{- else if eq $page.Site.Params.link.errorlevel "error" }}
+      {{- errorf "%q: link '%s' is not a page" $page.File.Filename $u.Path }}
+    {{- end }}
   {{- end }}
 {{- end }}
 {{- $attributes = $attributes | merge (dict "href" $href) -}}