diff --git a/changelog.d/17741.misc b/changelog.d/17741.misc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..119c81edab3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/17741.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Remove usage of the deprecated cgi module.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/contrib/graph/graph.py b/contrib/graph/graph.py
index 779590768fe..1d74fee822c 100644
--- a/contrib/graph/graph.py
+++ b/contrib/graph/graph.py
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@
 #
 
 import argparse
-import cgi
 import datetime
+import html
 import json
 import urllib.request
 from typing import List
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ def make_graph(pdus: List[dict], filename_prefix: str) -> None:
             "name": name,
             "type": pdu.get("pdu_type"),
             "state_key": pdu.get("state_key"),
-            "content": cgi.escape(json.dumps(pdu.get("content")), quote=True),
+            "content": html.escape(json.dumps(pdu.get("content")), quote=True),
             "time": t,
             "depth": pdu.get("depth"),
         }
diff --git a/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py b/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
index ecbbb6cfc49..b9ecdc27336 100644
--- a/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
+++ b/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 #
 #
 import abc
-import cgi
 import codecs
 import logging
 import random
@@ -1813,8 +1812,9 @@ def check_content_type_is(headers: Headers, expected_content_type: str) -> None:
         )
 
     c_type = content_type_headers[0].decode("ascii")  # only the first header
-    val, options = cgi.parse_header(c_type)
-    if val != expected_content_type:
+    # Extract the 'essence' of the mimetype, removing any parameter
+    c_type_parsed = c_type.split(";", 1)[0].strip()
+    if c_type_parsed != expected_content_type:
         raise RequestSendFailed(
             RuntimeError(
                 f"Remote server sent Content-Type header of '{c_type}', not '{expected_content_type}'",