diff --git a/src/cinderproxy.c b/src/cinderproxy.c
index 3a29e46..33ddfdf 100644
--- a/src/cinderproxy.c
+++ b/src/cinderproxy.c
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@
 #define QUEUE_CAPACITY 256
 #define BODY_CHUNK 16384
 
+static int headers_complete(const char *buf, size_t len) {
+    for (size_t i = 0; i + 3 < len; i++) {
+        if (memcmp(buf + i, "\r\n\r\n", 4) == 0) return 1;
+    }
+    return 0;
+}
+
 typedef struct { char ip[64]; time_t start; int count; int used; } rate_entry_t;
 typedef struct { rate_entry_t e[RATE_SLOTS]; pthread_mutex_t lock; int limit; int window; } limiter_t;
 typedef struct backend_health backend_health_t;
@@ -284,9 +291,9 @@ static void handle_client(client_t *c) {
         if (n <= 0) { free(buf); goto done; }
         used += (size_t)n;
         buf[used] = '\0';
-        if (strstr(buf, "\r\n\r\n")) break;
+        if (headers_complete(buf, used)) break;
     }
-    if (!strstr(buf, "\r\n\r\n")) {
+    if (!headers_complete(buf, used)) {
         error_resp(fd, tls, 431, "Request Header Fields Too Large");
         free(buf);
         goto done;
diff --git a/src/http.c b/src/http.c
index 82b2cbd..4ead51b 100644
--- a/src/http.c
+++ b/src/http.c
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ http_parse_result_t http_parse_request(const char *buf,size_t len,size_t max_hea
   if(len>max_header_bytes) return HTTP_PARSE_TOO_LARGE;
   memset(out,0,sizeof(*out)); out->content_length=0;
   const char *end=buf+len,*line=find_crlf(buf,end); if(!line) return HTTP_PARSE_BAD_REQUEST;
+  if(memchr(buf,'\0',(size_t)(line-buf))) return HTTP_PARSE_BAD_REQUEST;
   const char *sp1=memchr(buf,' ',(size_t)(line-buf)); if(!sp1||sp1==buf) return HTTP_PARSE_BAD_REQUEST;
   const char *sp2=memchr(sp1+1,' ',(size_t)(line-(sp1+1))); if(!sp2) return HTTP_PARSE_BAD_REQUEST;
   if(memchr(sp2+1,' ',(size_t)(line-(sp2+1)))) return HTTP_PARSE_BAD_REQUEST;
@@ -81,6 +82,7 @@ http_parse_result_t http_parse_request(const char *buf,size_t len,size_t max_hea
   int host_count=0,cl_seen=0; const char *p=line+2;
   while(p<end){
     const char *eol=find_crlf(p,end); if(!eol) return HTTP_PARSE_BAD_REQUEST;
+    if(memchr(p,'\0',(size_t)(eol-p))) return HTTP_PARSE_BAD_REQUEST;
     if(eol==p){ *header_end=(size_t)((eol+2)-buf); if(!strcmp(out->version,"HTTP/1.1")&&host_count!=1) return HTTP_PARSE_BAD_REQUEST; return HTTP_PARSE_OK; }
     if(out->header_count>=HTTP_MAX_HEADERS) return HTTP_PARSE_TOO_LARGE;
     const char *colon=memchr(p,':',(size_t)(eol-p)); if(!colon||colon==p) return HTTP_PARSE_BAD_REQUEST;
diff --git a/tests/test_http.c b/tests/test_http.c
index f914cae..e44e23e 100644
--- a/tests/test_http.c
+++ b/tests/test_http.c
@@ -5,6 +5,27 @@
 
 static http_parse_result_t parse(const char *s){ http_request_t r; size_t e=0; return http_parse_request(s,strlen(s),16384,&r,&e); }
 int main(void){
+  {
+    const char *requests[]={
+      "GET\0X / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n",
+      "GET /ok\0hidden HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n",
+      "GET / HTTP/1.1\0hidden\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n",
+      "GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost\0hidden: localhost\r\n\r\n",
+      "GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\0hidden\r\n\r\n"
+    };
+    const size_t lengths[]={
+      sizeof("GET\0X / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n")-1,
+      sizeof("GET /ok\0hidden HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n")-1,
+      sizeof("GET / HTTP/1.1\0hidden\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n")-1,
+      sizeof("GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost\0hidden: localhost\r\n\r\n")-1,
+      sizeof("GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\0hidden\r\n\r\n")-1
+    };
+    http_request_t r; size_t e=0;
+    for(size_t i=0;i<sizeof(requests)/sizeof(requests[0]);i++)
+      assert(http_parse_request(requests[i],lengths[i],16384,&r,&e)==HTTP_PARSE_BAD_REQUEST);
+    const char body[]="POST / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\r\nContent-Length: 3\r\n\r\na\0b";
+    assert(http_parse_request(body,sizeof(body)-1,16384,&r,&e)==HTTP_PARSE_OK);
+  }
   assert(parse("GET /ok HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n")==HTTP_PARSE_OK);
   assert(parse("GET /search?q=../safe HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n")==HTTP_PARSE_OK);
   assert(parse("GET / HTTP/1.1\r\n\r\n")==HTTP_PARSE_BAD_REQUEST);
diff --git a/tests/test_integration.py b/tests/test_integration.py
index 175c41d..9392556 100644
--- a/tests/test_integration.py
+++ b/tests/test_integration.py
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 import socket
 import subprocess
 import time
+import threading
+from http.server import BaseHTTPRequestHandler, ThreadingHTTPServer
 
 ROOT = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
 PROXY_PORT = 18080
@@ -53,6 +55,56 @@ def oversized_header_status():
     return response.split(b" ", 2)[1]
 
 
+def test_nul_headers_never_reach_backend():
+    received = []
+
+    class RecordingHandler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
+        def do_GET(self):
+            received.append(self.path)
+            self.send_response(200)
+            self.send_header("Content-Length", "0")
+            self.end_headers()
+
+        def log_message(self, *_):
+            pass
+
+    backend = ThreadingHTTPServer(("127.0.0.1", 0), RecordingHandler)
+    thread = threading.Thread(target=backend.serve_forever, daemon=True)
+    thread.start()
+    proxy = None
+    try:
+        proxy = subprocess.Popen([
+            "./build/cinderproxy", "--listen", str(PROXY_PORT),
+            "--backend-host", "127.0.0.1", "--backend-port", str(backend.server_port),
+            "--timeout", "2",
+        ], cwd=ROOT)
+        wait_for_port(PROXY_PORT)
+        assert proxy.poll() is None, "test proxy did not start"
+        malformed = [
+            b"GET\x00X /nul HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n",
+            b"GET /nul\x00hidden HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n",
+            b"GET /nul HTTP/1.1\x00hidden\r\nHost: localhost\r\n\r\n",
+            b"GET /nul HTTP/1.1\r\nHost\x00hidden: localhost\r\n\r\n",
+            b"GET /nul HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: localhost\x00hidden\r\n\r\n",
+        ]
+        for payload in malformed:
+            with socket.create_connection(("127.0.0.1", PROXY_PORT), timeout=3) as sock:
+                sock.sendall(payload)
+                response = http.client.HTTPResponse(sock)
+                response.begin()
+                response.read()
+                assert response.status == 400, (payload, response.status)
+        assert received == [], received
+        assert request("GET", "/control")[0] == 200
+        assert received == ["/control"], received
+        print("test_nul_headers_never_reach_backend: ok")
+    finally:
+        stop_process(proxy)
+        backend.shutdown()
+        backend.server_close()
+        thread.join(timeout=3)
+
+
 def main():
     backend = subprocess.Popen([
         "python3",
@@ -103,4 +155,5 @@ def main():
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
+    test_nul_headers_never_reach_backend()
     main()