diff --git a/src/research_signal_context_pipelines/research_context_adapter.py b/src/research_signal_context_pipelines/research_context_adapter.py
index 7fe2b17..8c2988b 100644
--- a/src/research_signal_context_pipelines/research_context_adapter.py
+++ b/src/research_signal_context_pipelines/research_context_adapter.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 from typing import Any
 from urllib.error import URLError
 from urllib.parse import urlsplit
-from urllib.request import Request, urlopen
+from urllib.request import HTTPRedirectHandler, Request, build_opener
 from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
 
 
@@ -19,6 +19,15 @@
 WEB_RESEARCH_USER_AGENT = "Mozilla/5.0"
 
 
+class _NoRedirect(HTTPRedirectHandler):
+    def redirect_request(self, req, fp, code, msg, headers, newurl):
+        # Only the configured URL was admitted; no follow-up request is allowed.
+        return None
+
+
+urlopen = build_opener(_NoRedirect()).open
+
+
 @dataclass(frozen=True)
 class ResearchSourceConfig:
     url: str
@@ -294,7 +303,7 @@ def build_context(self, *, pit_timestamp: dt.datetime | None = None) -> dict[str
                 fetched_time = dt.datetime.now(dt.timezone.utc)
                 fetched_at = _isoformat_utc(fetched_time)
             except (OSError, URLError, TimeoutError, ValueError) as exc:
-                warnings.append(f"failed to fetch research source {source.url}: {type(exc).__name__}: {exc}")
+                warnings.append(f"failed to fetch research source: {type(exc).__name__}")
                 continue
 
             if cutoff is not None and fetched_time > cutoff:
diff --git a/tests/test_research_context_adapter.py b/tests/test_research_context_adapter.py
index 4c72a77..cfdda66 100644
--- a/tests/test_research_context_adapter.py
+++ b/tests/test_research_context_adapter.py
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 import json
 import importlib.util
 import sys
+import io
+from email.message import Message
+import urllib.request
+from urllib.response import addinfourl
 
 import pytest
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -12,6 +16,37 @@
 from research_signal_context_pipelines import research_context_adapter as adapter_module
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("status", [301, 302, 303, 307, 308])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("target", [
+    "https://outside.example/private", "https://synthetic.example/another-path",
+    "http://127.0.0.1/private", "http://synthetic.example/downgrade",
+])
+def test_redirect_is_stopped_before_any_target_request(tmp_path, monkeypatch, status, target):
+    calls = []
+
+    def https_open(_handler, request):
+        calls.append(request.full_url)
+        headers = Message()
+        headers["Content-Type"] = "application/rss+xml"
+        if len(calls) == 1:
+            headers["Location"] = target
+        response = addinfourl(
+            io.BytesIO(_rss("2026-09-04T00:00:00Z").encode()), headers,
+            request.full_url, status if len(calls) == 1 else 200,
+        )
+        response.msg = "synthetic response"
+        return response
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(urllib.request.HTTPSHandler, "https_open", https_open)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(urllib.request.HTTPHandler, "http_open", https_open)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(urllib.request, "_opener", None)
+    context = ResearchContextAdapter(_config(tmp_path)).build_context()
+    assert calls == ["https://synthetic.example/source"]
+    assert context["source_count"] == 0
+    assert context["research_sources"] == []
+    assert any("failed to fetch" in warning for warning in context["warnings"])
+
+
 @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
 def clock(monkeypatch):
     real_datetime = dt.datetime