Hi!
I've updated to org-mode 9.0.7 but the problem remains. With this org-mode buffer
[[info:emacs#Directory%20variables][info:Directory variables]]
org-element-parse-buffer give the following (indented):
(org-data
nil
(section
(:begin 1 :end 92 :contents-begin 1 :contents-end 92 :post-blank 0 :post-affiliated 1 :parent #0)
(paragraph
(:begin 1 :end 65 :contents-begin 1 :contents-end 64 :post-blank 1 :post-affiliated 1 :parent #1)
(link
(:type info :path emacs#Directory%20variables :format bracket :raw-link info:emacs#Directory%20variables :application nil :search-option nil :begin 1 :end 63 :contents-begin 37 :contents-end 61 :post-blank 0 :parent #2)
(link (:type info :path Directory :format plain :raw-link info:Directory :application nil :search-option nil :begin 37 :end 52 :contents-begin nil :contents-end nil :post-blank 1 :parent #3))
variables))))
So the org-element-contents of the link is another link.