diff --git a/BUILD_DATE b/BUILD_DATE
index 4fdb54a9..4d6a80ba 100644
--- a/BUILD_DATE
+++ b/BUILD_DATE
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2026-04-07T09:34:53Z
+2026-05-17T12:40:20Z
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8cf9d996..a826faeb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,19 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 <!-- version list -->
 
+## v0.172.10 (2026-05-17)
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+- **url-upload**: Handle unsafe redirects as client errors
+  ([`871f788`](https://github.com/christianlouis/DocuElevate/commit/871f788f0bd782ba8ad3a7d70e5cd4ccd24f749b))
+
+### Documentation
+
+- **changelog**: Update changelog [skip ci]
+  ([`58b14ae`](https://github.com/christianlouis/DocuElevate/commit/58b14ae769b85e25290126256de936743609af06))
+
+
 ## Unreleased
 
 
diff --git a/GIT_SHA b/GIT_SHA
index 0a799c3b..93306099 100644
--- a/GIT_SHA
+++ b/GIT_SHA
@@ -1 +1 @@
-3bd8a52
+62d4ca6
diff --git a/RUNTIME_INFO b/RUNTIME_INFO
index 88dbc05a..13423581 100644
--- a/RUNTIME_INFO
+++ b/RUNTIME_INFO
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 DocuElevate Build Information
 ==============================
-Version: 0.172.9
-Build Date: 2026-04-07T09:34:53Z
-Git Commit: 3bd8a52ea201b33d6071c9b3a7fdace582e65fd5
-Git Short SHA: 3bd8a52
+Version: 0.172.10
+Build Date: 2026-05-17T12:40:20Z
+Git Commit: 62d4ca6367a6c8a2e7909305fec56c5b2c24e312
+Git Short SHA: 62d4ca6
 Git Branch: main
-Commit Date: 2026-04-07T11:34:28+02:00
-Build Timestamp: 2026-04-07T09:34:53Z
+Commit Date: 2026-05-17T14:39:59+02:00
+Build Timestamp: 2026-05-17T12:40:20Z
 ==============================
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index e80037f8..ab68e419 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.172.9
+0.172.10
diff --git a/app/api/url_upload.py b/app/api/url_upload.py
index 9f20039c..b255407f 100644
--- a/app/api/url_upload.py
+++ b/app/api/url_upload.py
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 router = APIRouter()
 
 
+class UnsafeRedirectError(httpx.RequestError):
+    """Raised when a redirect target fails URL safety checks."""
+
+
 class URLUploadRequest(BaseModel):
     """Request model for URL-based file upload"""
 
@@ -120,9 +124,10 @@ async def verify_redirect(response: httpx.Response) -> None:
             try:
                 validate_url_safety(new_url)
             except HTTPException as e:
-                # Map the validation error to an httpx exception so it can be handled
-                # properly by the caller, avoiding raw HTTPExceptions escaping the client scope
-                raise httpx.RequestError(f"Redirect to unsafe URL blocked: {e.detail}", request=response.request) from e
+                raise UnsafeRedirectError(
+                    f"Redirect to unsafe URL blocked: {e.detail}",
+                    request=response.request,
+                ) from e
 
 
 @router.post("/process-url")
@@ -170,19 +175,6 @@ async def process_url(
     if not safe_filename:
         safe_filename = "download"
 
-    # Hook to validate redirects and prevent SSRF
-    async def validate_redirect(response: httpx.Response):
-        if response.is_redirect:
-            location = response.headers.get("Location")
-            if location:
-                # Resolve relative URLs
-                next_url = urllib.parse.urljoin(str(response.url), location)
-                try:
-                    validate_url_safety(next_url)
-                except HTTPException as e:
-                    # Reraise as a RequestError so httpx aborts the request
-                    raise httpx.RequestError(f"Unsafe redirect target: {e.detail}", request=response.request)
-
     # Download file with security measures
     # Initialize target_path to None to prevent UnboundLocalError in exception handlers
     # that may execute before target_path is assigned during error cases
@@ -194,7 +186,7 @@ async def process_url(
         async with httpx.AsyncClient(
             timeout=settings.http_request_timeout,
             follow_redirects=True,
-            event_hooks={"response": [validate_redirect, verify_redirect]},
+            event_hooks={"response": [verify_redirect]},
             headers={
                 "User-Agent": "DocuElevate/1.0",  # Identify ourselves
             },
@@ -284,6 +276,10 @@ async def process_url(
         logger.error(f"HTTP error while downloading file from URL: {url} - {str(e)}")
         raise HTTPException(status_code=e.response.status_code, detail=f"HTTP error: {str(e)}")
 
+    except UnsafeRedirectError as e:
+        logger.warning(f"Unsafe redirect blocked while downloading file from URL: {url} - {str(e)}")
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail=str(e))
+
     except httpx.RequestError as e:
         logger.error(f"Error downloading file from URL: {url} - {str(e)}")
         raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail=f"Failed to download file: {str(e)}")
diff --git a/tests/test_url_upload.py b/tests/test_url_upload.py
index 0d12239a..a51b4f71 100644
--- a/tests/test_url_upload.py
+++ b/tests/test_url_upload.py
@@ -465,6 +465,19 @@ class TestURLUploadEndpoint:
         data = response.json()
         assert "Failed to download file" in data["detail"]
 
+    @patch("app.api.url_upload.httpx.AsyncClient.stream")
+    def test_process_url_unsafe_redirect_returns_400(self, mock_stream, client):
+        """Test unsafe redirects are reported as a client error instead of HTTP 500."""
+        from app.api.url_upload import UnsafeRedirectError
+
+        mock_stream.side_effect = UnsafeRedirectError("Redirect to unsafe URL blocked: Unsafe URL")
+
+        response = client.post("/api/process-url", json={"url": "https://example.com/file.pdf"})
+
+        assert response.status_code == 400
+        data = response.json()
+        assert "Redirect to unsafe URL blocked" in data["detail"]
+
     @patch("app.api.url_upload.httpx.AsyncClient.stream")
     def test_process_url_oserror_during_save(self, mock_stream, client, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
         """Test handling of OSError when saving file"""