diff --git a/src/nodes/Pair.ts b/src/nodes/Pair.ts
index 18ddad34..72f642c3 100644
--- a/src/nodes/Pair.ts
+++ b/src/nodes/Pair.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,9 @@ export class Pair<
     doc: Document<DocValue, boolean>,
     ctx: ToJSContext
   ): ReturnType<typeof addPairToJSMap> {
-    const pair = ctx.mapAsMap ? new Map() : {}
+    const pair = ctx.mapAsMap
+      ? new Map()
+      : (Object.create(null) as Record<string, unknown>)
     return addPairToJSMap(doc, ctx, pair, this)
   }
 
diff --git a/src/nodes/YAMLMap.ts b/src/nodes/YAMLMap.ts
index b2075041..c0e9f86b 100644
--- a/src/nodes/YAMLMap.ts
+++ b/src/nodes/YAMLMap.ts
@@ -235,7 +235,11 @@ export class YAMLMap<
     Type?: { new (): T }
   ) {
     ctx ??= new ToJSContext()
-    const map = Type ? new Type() : ctx?.mapAsMap ? new Map() : {}
+    const map = Type
+      ? new Type()
+      : ctx?.mapAsMap
+        ? new Map()
+        : (Object.create(null) as Record<string, unknown>)
     if (this.anchor) ctx.setAnchor(this, map)
     for (const pair of this.values.values()) addPairToJSMap(doc, ctx, map, pair)
     return map
diff --git a/tests/node-to-js.ts b/tests/node-to-js.ts
index 170cd309..0878e0f3 100644
--- a/tests/node-to-js.ts
+++ b/tests/node-to-js.ts
@@ -17,12 +17,16 @@ describe('scalars', () => {
 describe('collections', () => {
   test('map', () => {
     const doc = parseDocument('key: 42')
-    expect(doc.value.toJS(doc)).toMatchObject({ key: 42 })
+    expect(doc.value.toJS(doc)).toStrictEqual(
+      Object.assign(Object.create(null), { key: 42 })
+    )
   })
 
   test('map in seq', () => {
     const doc = parseDocument<YAMLSeq, false>('- key: 42')
-    expect(doc.get(0).toJS(doc)).toMatchObject({ key: 42 })
+    expect(doc.get(0).toJS(doc)).toStrictEqual(
+      Object.assign(Object.create(null), { key: 42 })
+    )
   })
 })
 
@@ -51,7 +55,11 @@ describe('alias', () => {
       two: &b { key: *a }
       three: *b
     `)
-    expect(doc.get('three').toJS(doc)).toMatchObject({ key: 42 })
+    expect(doc.get('three').toJS(doc)).toStrictEqual(
+      Object.assign(Object.create(null), {
+        key: 42
+      })
+    )
   })
 
   test('missing anchor', () => {
diff --git a/tests/properties.ts b/tests/properties.ts
index 9950f964..b82ae3ab 100644
--- a/tests/properties.ts
+++ b/tests/properties.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,23 @@
 import * as fc from 'fast-check'
 import { parse, stringify } from 'yaml'
 
+/** Set pojo prototypes to `null` recursively */
+function nullifyProto(value: unknown): unknown {
+  if (typeof value !== 'object' || value == null) {
+    return value
+  }
+  if (Array.isArray(value)) {
+    return value.map(nullifyProto)
+  }
+  const result: Record<string, unknown> = Object.create(null)
+  for (const key in value) {
+    if (Object.hasOwn(value, key)) {
+      result[key] = nullifyProto((value as Record<string, unknown>)[key])
+    }
+  }
+  return result
+}
+
 describe('properties', () => {
   test('parse stringified object', () => {
     const key = fc.fullUnicodeString()
@@ -25,7 +42,9 @@ describe('properties', () => {
 
     fc.assert(
       fc.property(yamlArbitrary, optionsArbitrary, (obj, opts) => {
-        expect(parse(stringify(obj, opts), opts)).toStrictEqual(obj)
+        expect(parse(stringify(obj, opts), opts)).toStrictEqual(
+          nullifyProto(obj)
+        )
       })
     )
   })