diff --git a/.jules/sentinel.md b/.jules/sentinel.md
index c5cbf40..fdb9705 100644
--- a/.jules/sentinel.md
+++ b/.jules/sentinel.md
@@ -17,3 +17,8 @@
 **Vulnerability:** The `/radio/proxy/{stream_id}` endpoint instantiated an `httpx.AsyncClient` with `follow_redirects=True`. Although the initial user-provided URL was checked against SSRF using `validate_safe_url`, if the server responded with an HTTP redirect (e.g. 302 Found) to an internal URL, the client would follow it without re-validating the target URL, leading to an SSRF vulnerability.
 **Learning:** Checking a URL before making a request is insufficient if the HTTP client automatically follows redirects to new URLs. Each redirect target must also be validated against SSRF rules.
 **Prevention:** If `follow_redirects=True` must be used, add an `event_hooks={'request': [_validate_request_url]}` hook to `httpx.AsyncClient` to intercept and validate every outbound request URL during the lifecycle of the client, including redirects.
+
+## 2025-05-26 - [SSRF via Unvalidated Redirects in Pollers]
+**Vulnerability:** Similar to the `proxy_stream` vulnerability, several backend poller modules (`gtfs_rt.py`, `alerts.py`, `utilities.py`, `news.py`, `weather.py`) used `httpx.AsyncClient(follow_redirects=True)` without validating the URLs of any HTTP redirects. This opened up the system to an SSRF vulnerability where external servers could redirect the poller to private/loopback IP addresses to probe the internal network. Also, the `0.0.0.0` address was not blocked which could resolve to localhost.
+**Learning:** Checking for `ip.is_private`, `ip.is_loopback`, `ip.is_link_local`, and `ip.is_reserved` is insufficient on Linux. Attackers can provide `0.0.0.0` to bypass these checks, but Linux will route `0.0.0.0` to `localhost`.
+**Prevention:** Implement an `event_hooks={'request': [validate_request_url]}` for all `httpx.AsyncClient` instances when `follow_redirects=True`. In addition, ensure that the centralized SSRF validation function blocks `ip.is_unspecified` (i.e. `0.0.0.0`) in addition to private/loopback/link-local/reserved addresses.
diff --git a/backend/security.py b/backend/security.py
index 710a978..8400bf1 100644
--- a/backend/security.py
+++ b/backend/security.py
@@ -66,5 +66,5 @@ def validate_webhook_url(url: str) -> None:
 
 
 def _reject_private_ip(ip: ipaddress.IPv4Address | ipaddress.IPv6Address) -> None:
-    if ip.is_loopback or ip.is_private or ip.is_link_local or ip.is_reserved:
+    if ip.is_loopback or ip.is_private or ip.is_link_local or ip.is_reserved or ip.is_unspecified:
         raise ValueError(f"URL resolves to a non-public address: {ip}")
diff --git a/poller/pollers/alerts.py b/poller/pollers/alerts.py
index f61a124..be3f63c 100644
--- a/poller/pollers/alerts.py
+++ b/poller/pollers/alerts.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import feedparser
 import httpx
 from config import settings
+from security import validate_request_url
 from bus import set_feed
 from .base import BasePoller
 
@@ -112,7 +113,11 @@ async def poll(self):
         weather_alerts: list[dict] = []
 
         # ── URL-based alert feeds ────────────────────────────────────────────
-        async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=15, follow_redirects=True) as client:
+        async with httpx.AsyncClient(
+            timeout=15,
+            follow_redirects=True,
+            event_hooks={'request': [validate_request_url]}
+        ) as client:
             for feed in self._alert_feeds:
                 try:
                     resp = await client.get(feed["url"])
diff --git a/poller/pollers/gtfs_rt.py b/poller/pollers/gtfs_rt.py
index e93a76e..0a6dcfe 100644
--- a/poller/pollers/gtfs_rt.py
+++ b/poller/pollers/gtfs_rt.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 import httpx
 
+from security import validate_request_url
 from bus import get_bus, publish_entity
 from config import settings
 from .base import BasePoller
@@ -144,7 +145,10 @@ async def _ensure_route_map(self, state: _FeedState) -> dict[str, dict]:
             params[feed.api_key_param] = feed.api_key
 
         try:
-            async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=90) as client:
+            async with httpx.AsyncClient(
+                timeout=90,
+                event_hooks={'request': [validate_request_url]}
+            ) as client:
                 resp = await client.get(
                     feed.static_gtfs_url,
                     params=params,
diff --git a/poller/pollers/news.py b/poller/pollers/news.py
index 2ba4dc5..01c4fbc 100644
--- a/poller/pollers/news.py
+++ b/poller/pollers/news.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import feedparser
 import httpx
 
+from security import validate_request_url
 from bus import set_feed
 from .base import BasePoller
 
@@ -80,7 +81,9 @@ async def poll(self):
         for src in self._rss_sources:
             try:
                 async with httpx.AsyncClient(
-                    timeout=15, follow_redirects=True
+                    timeout=15,
+                    follow_redirects=True,
+                    event_hooks={'request': [validate_request_url]}
                 ) as client:
                     resp = await client.get(src["url"])
                     resp.raise_for_status()
diff --git a/poller/pollers/utilities.py b/poller/pollers/utilities.py
index a6f6ae1..aea6c25 100644
--- a/poller/pollers/utilities.py
+++ b/poller/pollers/utilities.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import logging
 import httpx
+from security import validate_request_url
 from bus import set_feed
 from .base import BasePoller
 
@@ -28,7 +29,11 @@ async def poll(self):
                 "outFields": "utilityName,metersOut,CountyName",
                 "f": "json"
             }
-            async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=20, follow_redirects=True) as client:
+            async with httpx.AsyncClient(
+                timeout=20,
+                follow_redirects=True,
+                event_hooks={'request': [validate_request_url]}
+            ) as client:
                 resp = await client.get(_ODIN_URL, params=params)
                 resp.raise_for_status()
                 data = resp.json()
diff --git a/poller/pollers/weather.py b/poller/pollers/weather.py
index c3b35c9..0e2f4b4 100644
--- a/poller/pollers/weather.py
+++ b/poller/pollers/weather.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 import logging
 import httpx
 from config import settings, load_regions
+from security import validate_request_url
 from bus import set_feed
 from normalizers.weather import normalize_observation
 from .base import BasePoller
@@ -109,7 +110,11 @@ async def _fetch_aqi(self) -> dict:
         }
         _success = False
         try:
-            async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=30, follow_redirects=True) as client:
+            async with httpx.AsyncClient(
+                timeout=30,
+                follow_redirects=True,
+                event_hooks={'request': [validate_request_url]}
+            ) as client:
                 resp = await client.get(url, params=params)
                 resp.raise_for_status()
             data = resp.json()
diff --git a/poller/security.py b/poller/security.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..22df2ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/poller/security.py
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+import asyncio
+import ipaddress
+import socket
+from urllib.parse import urlparse
+import httpx
+
+async def validate_safe_url(url: str, allowed_schemes: set[str] | None = None) -> None:
+    """Raise ValueError if url is not a safe, public URL."""
+    if allowed_schemes is None:
+        allowed_schemes = {"http", "https", "ws", "wss", "tcp"}
+    try:
+        parsed = urlparse(url)
+    except Exception as exc:
+        raise ValueError(f"Unparseable URL: {exc}") from exc
+
+    if parsed.scheme not in allowed_schemes:
+        raise ValueError(f"URL scheme must be one of {allowed_schemes}")
+
+    hostname = parsed.hostname or ""
+    if not hostname:
+        raise ValueError("URL has no hostname")
+
+    await validate_safe_host(hostname)
+
+
+async def validate_safe_host(hostname: str) -> None:
+    """Raise ValueError if hostname resolves to a non-public address."""
+    if not hostname:
+        raise ValueError("No hostname provided")
+    try:
+        ip = ipaddress.ip_address(hostname)
+        _reject_private_ip(ip)
+    except ValueError as exc:
+        if "non-public address" in str(exc):
+            raise
+        # Not an IP literal — resolve via DNS and check each address
+        try:
+            loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
+            infos = await loop.getaddrinfo(hostname, None)
+        except OSError as dns_exc:
+            raise ValueError(f"Cannot resolve hostname: {dns_exc}") from dns_exc
+        for info in infos:
+            addr = info[4][0]
+            _reject_private_ip(ipaddress.ip_address(addr))
+
+
+def _reject_private_ip(ip: ipaddress.IPv4Address | ipaddress.IPv6Address) -> None:
+    if ip.is_loopback or ip.is_private or ip.is_link_local or ip.is_reserved or ip.is_unspecified:
+        raise ValueError(f"URL resolves to a non-public address: {ip}")
+
+
+async def validate_request_url(request: httpx.Request):
+    """Event hook for httpx.AsyncClient to validate outbound URLs."""
+    try:
+        await validate_safe_url(str(request.url), allowed_schemes={"http", "https"})
+    except ValueError as e:
+        # We raise a RequestError here so httpx catches it instead of crashing.
+        raise httpx.RequestError(f"SSRF validation failed: {e}", request=request)