diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fe523209..849c92ea 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,27 @@
+## **6.5.3**
+- [Fix] `parse`: ignore `__proto__` keys (#428)
+- [Fix]` `utils.merge`: avoid a crash with a null target and a truthy non-array source
+- [Fix] correctly parse nested arrays
+- [Fix] `stringify`: fix a crash with `strictNullHandling` and a custom `filter`/`serializeDate` (#279)
+- [Fix] `utils`: `merge`: fix crash when `source` is a truthy primitive & no options are provided
+- [Fix] when `parseArrays` is false, properly handle keys ending in `[]`
+- [Fix] fix for an impossible situation: when the formatter is called with a non-string value
+- [Fix] `utils.merge`: avoid a crash with a null target and an array source
+- [Refactor] `utils`: reduce observable [[Get]]s
+- [Refactor] use cached `Array.isArray`
+- [Refactor] `stringify`: Avoid arr = arr.concat(...), push to the existing instance (#269)
+- [Refactor] `parse`: only need to reassign the var once
+- [Robustness] `stringify`: avoid relying on a global `undefined` (#427)
+- [readme] remove travis badge; add github actions/codecov badges; update URLs
+- [Docs] Clean up license text so it’s properly detected as BSD-3-Clause
+- [Docs] Clarify the need for "arrayLimit" option
+- [meta] fix README.md (#399)
+- [meta] add FUNDING.yml
+- [actions] backport actions from main
+- [Tests] always use `String(x)` over `x.toString()`
+- [Tests] remove nonexistent tape option
+- [Dev Deps] backport from main
+
 ## **6.5.2**
 - [Fix] use `safer-buffer` instead of `Buffer` constructor
 - [Refactor] utils: `module.exports` one thing, instead of mutating `exports` (#230)
diff --git a/component.json b/component.json
index e686cd24..dd13558f 100644
--- a/component.json
+++ b/component.json
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 {
     "name": "qs",
-    "repository": "hapijs/qs",
+    "repository": "ljharb/qs",
     "description": "query-string parser / stringifier with nesting support",
-    "version": "6.5.0",
+    "version": "6.5.3",
     "keywords": ["querystring", "query", "parser"],
     "main": "lib/index.js",
     "scripts": [
diff --git a/dist/qs.js b/dist/qs.js
index ecf7ba44..9f54e3fb 100644
--- a/dist/qs.js
+++ b/dist/qs.js
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ module.exports = {
             return replace.call(value, percentTwenties, '+');
         },
         RFC3986: function (value) {
-            return value;
+            return String(value);
         }
     },
     RFC1738: 'RFC1738',
@@ -87,14 +87,15 @@ var parseObject = function (chain, val, options) {
         var obj;
         var root = chain[i];
 
-        if (root === '[]') {
-            obj = [];
-            obj = obj.concat(leaf);
+        if (root === '[]' && options.parseArrays) {
+            obj = [].concat(leaf);
         } else {
             obj = options.plainObjects ? Object.create(null) : {};
             var cleanRoot = root.charAt(0) === '[' && root.charAt(root.length - 1) === ']' ? root.slice(1, -1) : root;
             var index = parseInt(cleanRoot, 10);
-            if (
+            if (!options.parseArrays && cleanRoot === '') {
+                obj = { 0: leaf };
+            } else if (
                 !isNaN(index)
                 && root !== cleanRoot
                 && String(index) === cleanRoot
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ var parseObject = function (chain, val, options) {
             ) {
                 obj = [];
                 obj[index] = leaf;
-            } else {
+            } else if (cleanRoot !== '__proto__') {
                 obj[cleanRoot] = leaf;
             }
         }
@@ -214,17 +215,23 @@ var utils = require('./utils');
 var formats = require('./formats');
 
 var arrayPrefixGenerators = {
-    brackets: function brackets(prefix) { // eslint-disable-line func-name-matching
+    brackets: function brackets(prefix) {
         return prefix + '[]';
     },
-    indices: function indices(prefix, key) { // eslint-disable-line func-name-matching
+    indices: function indices(prefix, key) {
         return prefix + '[' + key + ']';
     },
-    repeat: function repeat(prefix) { // eslint-disable-line func-name-matching
+    repeat: function repeat(prefix) {
         return prefix;
     }
 };
 
+var isArray = Array.isArray;
+var push = Array.prototype.push;
+var pushToArray = function (arr, valueOrArray) {
+    push.apply(arr, isArray(valueOrArray) ? valueOrArray : [valueOrArray]);
+};
+
 var toISO = Date.prototype.toISOString;
 
 var defaults = {
@@ -232,14 +239,14 @@ var defaults = {
     encode: true,
     encoder: utils.encode,
     encodeValuesOnly: false,
-    serializeDate: function serializeDate(date) { // eslint-disable-line func-name-matching
+    serializeDate: function serializeDate(date) {
         return toISO.call(date);
     },
     skipNulls: false,
     strictNullHandling: false
 };
 
-var stringify = function stringify( // eslint-disable-line func-name-matching
+var stringify = function stringify(
     object,
     prefix,
     generateArrayPrefix,
@@ -258,7 +265,9 @@ var stringify = function stringify( // eslint-disable-line func-name-matching
         obj = filter(prefix, obj);
     } else if (obj instanceof Date) {
         obj = serializeDate(obj);
-    } else if (obj === null) {
+    }
+
+    if (obj === null) {
         if (strictNullHandling) {
             return encoder && !encodeValuesOnly ? encoder(prefix, defaults.encoder) : prefix;
         }
@@ -281,7 +290,7 @@ var stringify = function stringify( // eslint-disable-line func-name-matching
     }
 
     var objKeys;
-    if (Array.isArray(filter)) {
+    if (isArray(filter)) {
         objKeys = filter;
     } else {
         var keys = Object.keys(obj);
@@ -295,8 +304,8 @@ var stringify = function stringify( // eslint-disable-line func-name-matching
             continue;
         }
 
-        if (Array.isArray(obj)) {
-            values = values.concat(stringify(
+        if (isArray(obj)) {
+            pushToArray(values, stringify(
                 obj[key],
                 generateArrayPrefix(prefix, key),
                 generateArrayPrefix,
@@ -311,7 +320,7 @@ var stringify = function stringify( // eslint-disable-line func-name-matching
                 encodeValuesOnly
             ));
         } else {
-            values = values.concat(stringify(
+            pushToArray(values, stringify(
                 obj[key],
                 prefix + (allowDots ? '.' + key : '[' + key + ']'),
                 generateArrayPrefix,
@@ -335,7 +344,7 @@ module.exports = function (object, opts) {
     var obj = object;
     var options = opts ? utils.assign({}, opts) : {};
 
-    if (options.encoder !== null && options.encoder !== undefined && typeof options.encoder !== 'function') {
+    if (options.encoder !== null && typeof options.encoder !== 'undefined' && typeof options.encoder !== 'function') {
         throw new TypeError('Encoder has to be a function.');
     }
 
@@ -360,7 +369,7 @@ module.exports = function (object, opts) {
     if (typeof options.filter === 'function') {
         filter = options.filter;
         obj = filter('', obj);
-    } else if (Array.isArray(options.filter)) {
+    } else if (isArray(options.filter)) {
         filter = options.filter;
         objKeys = filter;
     }
@@ -396,8 +405,7 @@ module.exports = function (object, opts) {
         if (skipNulls && obj[key] === null) {
             continue;
         }
-
-        keys = keys.concat(stringify(
+        pushToArray(keys, stringify(
             obj[key],
             key,
             generateArrayPrefix,
@@ -475,8 +483,8 @@ var merge = function merge(target, source, options) {
     if (typeof source !== 'object') {
         if (Array.isArray(target)) {
             target.push(source);
-        } else if (typeof target === 'object') {
-            if (options.plainObjects || options.allowPrototypes || !has.call(Object.prototype, source)) {
+        } else if (target && typeof target === 'object') {
+            if ((options && (options.plainObjects || options.allowPrototypes)) || !has.call(Object.prototype, source)) {
                 target[source] = true;
             }
         } else {
@@ -486,7 +494,7 @@ var merge = function merge(target, source, options) {
         return target;
     }
 
-    if (typeof target !== 'object') {
+    if (!target || typeof target !== 'object') {
         return [target].concat(source);
     }
 
@@ -498,8 +506,9 @@ var merge = function merge(target, source, options) {
     if (Array.isArray(target) && Array.isArray(source)) {
         source.forEach(function (item, i) {
             if (has.call(target, i)) {
-                if (target[i] && typeof target[i] === 'object') {
-                    target[i] = merge(target[i], item, options);
+                var targetItem = target[i];
+                if (targetItem && typeof targetItem === 'object' && item && typeof item === 'object') {
+                    target[i] = merge(targetItem, item, options);
                 } else {
                     target.push(item);
                 }
@@ -580,6 +589,7 @@ var encode = function encode(str) {
 
         i += 1;
         c = 0x10000 + (((c & 0x3FF) << 10) | (string.charCodeAt(i) & 0x3FF));
+        /* eslint operator-linebreak: [2, "before"] */
         out += hexTable[0xF0 | (c >> 18)]
             + hexTable[0x80 | ((c >> 12) & 0x3F)]
             + hexTable[0x80 | ((c >> 6) & 0x3F)]
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a3e8bda4..cc651b82 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
     "name": "qs",
     "description": "A querystring parser that supports nesting and arrays, with a depth limit",
     "homepage": "https://github.com/ljharb/qs",
-    "version": "6.5.2",
+    "version": "6.5.3",
     "repository": {
         "type": "git",
         "url": "https://github.com/ljharb/qs.git"