diff --git a/evaluations/research-agent-team-eval/evaluator.py b/evaluations/research-agent-team-eval/evaluator.py
index d00a4d0..ef90599 100755
--- a/evaluations/research-agent-team-eval/evaluator.py
+++ b/evaluations/research-agent-team-eval/evaluator.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 import argparse
 import asyncio
 import aiohttp
+import ipaddress
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Tuple, Optional
 from collections import defaultdict
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
@@ -985,8 +986,46 @@ async def evaluate_url_validity_async(
 
         urls = re.findall(r"https?://[^\s\)]+", report)
 
+        def is_safe_public_url(url: str) -> bool:
+            """Block private/internal URL targets to reduce SSRF risk."""
+            try:
+                parsed = urlparse(url)
+                if parsed.scheme not in {"http", "https"}:
+                    return False
+                if not parsed.hostname:
+                    return False
+
+                hostname = parsed.hostname.strip("[]").lower()
+                if hostname in {"localhost", "localhost.localdomain"}:
+                    return False
+                if hostname.endswith(".local"):
+                    return False
+
+                try:
+                    ip = ipaddress.ip_address(hostname)
+                    if (
+                        ip.is_private
+                        or ip.is_loopback
+                        or ip.is_link_local
+                        or ip.is_multicast
+                        or ip.is_reserved
+                        or ip.is_unspecified
+                    ):
+                        return False
+                except ValueError:
+                    # Hostname is not a direct IP literal; keep it eligible.
+                    pass
+
+                return True
+            except Exception:
+                return False
+
+        safe_urls = [url for url in urls if is_safe_public_url(url)]
+        blocked_urls = [url for url in urls if not is_safe_public_url(url)]
+
         results = {
             "total_urls": len(urls),
+            "blocked_urls": len(blocked_urls),
             "valid_urls": 0,
             "invalid_urls": 0,
             "timeout_urls": 0,
@@ -995,19 +1034,19 @@ async def evaluate_url_validity_async(
         }
 
         # Decide which URLs to check
-        if len(urls) <= 20:
+        if len(safe_urls) <= 20:
             # Check all URLs if 20 or fewer
-            urls_to_check = urls
-            results["sample_size"] = len(urls)
+            urls_to_check = safe_urls
+            results["sample_size"] = len(safe_urls)
         else:
             # Random sample of 20 if more than 20
-            urls_to_check = random.sample(urls, 20)
+            urls_to_check = random.sample(safe_urls, 20)
             results["sample_size"] = 20
 
         async def check_url(session, url):
             try:
                 async with session.head(
-                    url, timeout=5, allow_redirects=True
+                    url, timeout=5, allow_redirects=False
                 ) as response:
                     if response.status < 400:
                         return url, "valid"
@@ -1039,13 +1078,15 @@ async def check_url(session, url):
             score = 0
 
         # Update feedback to indicate sampling
-        if len(urls) > 20:
-            feedback = f"{results['valid_urls']}/{results['sample_size']} URLs valid (random sample from {len(urls)} total)"
+        if len(safe_urls) > 20:
+            feedback = f"{results['valid_urls']}/{results['sample_size']} URLs valid (random sample from {len(safe_urls)} eligible)"
         else:
             feedback = f"{results['valid_urls']}/{results['sample_size']} URLs valid"
 
         if results["broken_links"]:
             feedback += f", {len(results['broken_links'])} broken"
+        if blocked_urls:
+            feedback += f", skipped {len(blocked_urls)} private/internal URL(s)"
 
         return MetricResult(score=score, details=results, feedback=feedback)