diff --git a/go/ql/lib/semmle/go/Types.qll b/go/ql/lib/semmle/go/Types.qll
index 0c6029ad360..1ba2564f011 100644
--- a/go/ql/lib/semmle/go/Types.qll
+++ b/go/ql/lib/semmle/go/Types.qll
@@ -1015,6 +1015,17 @@ class AliasType extends @typealias, CompositeType {
   override Type getUnderlyingType() { result = this.getRhs().getUnderlyingType() }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Gets the non-alias type at the end of the alias chain starting at `t`.
+ *
+ * If `t` is not an alias type then `result` is `t`.
+ */
+Type unalias(Type t) {
+  not t instanceof AliasType and result = t
+  or
+  result = unalias(t.(AliasType).getRhs())
+}
+
 /**
  * A type that implements the builtin interface `error`.
  */
diff --git a/go/ql/src/experimental/CWE-79/HTMLTemplateEscapingPassthrough.ql b/go/ql/src/experimental/CWE-79/HTMLTemplateEscapingPassthrough.ql
index 7918b9694ea..6591aa0aa14 100644
--- a/go/ql/src/experimental/CWE-79/HTMLTemplateEscapingPassthrough.ql
+++ b/go/ql/src/experimental/CWE-79/HTMLTemplateEscapingPassthrough.ql
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ module UntrustedToPassthroughTypeConversionConfig implements DataFlow::ConfigSig
   additional predicate isSinkToPassthroughType(DataFlow::TypeCastNode sink, PassthroughTypeName name) {
     exists(Type typ |
       typ = sink.getResultType() and
-      typ.getUnderlyingType*().hasQualifiedName("html/template", name)
+      unalias(typ).hasQualifiedName("html/template", name)
     )
   }
 
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ module PassthroughTypeConversionToTemplateExecutionCallConfig implements DataFlo
   ) {
     exists(Type typ |
       typ = source.getResultType() and
-      typ.getUnderlyingType*().hasQualifiedName("html/template", name)
+      unalias(typ).hasQualifiedName("html/template", name)
     )
   }