diff --git a/server/controllers/PodcastController.js b/server/controllers/PodcastController.js
index 035f9152..e476efd5 100644
--- a/server/controllers/PodcastController.js
+++ b/server/controllers/PodcastController.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ const fs = require('../libs/fsExtra')
 
 const { getPodcastFeed, findMatchingEpisodes } = require('../utils/podcastUtils')
 const { getFileTimestampsWithIno, filePathToPOSIX } = require('../utils/fileUtils')
+const { validateUrl } = require('../utils/index')
 
 const Scanner = require('../scanner/Scanner')
 const CoverManager = require('../managers/CoverManager')
@@ -102,15 +103,24 @@ class PodcastController {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * POST: /api/podcasts/feed
+   * 
+   * @typedef getPodcastFeedReqBody
+   * @property {string} rssFeed
+   * 
+   * @param {import('express').Request<{}, {}, getPodcastFeedReqBody, {}} req 
+   * @param {import('express').Response} res 
+   */
   async getPodcastFeed(req, res) {
     if (!req.user.isAdminOrUp) {
       Logger.error(`[PodcastController] Non-admin user "${req.user.username}" attempted to get podcast feed`)
       return res.sendStatus(403)
     }
 
-    var url = req.body.rssFeed
+    const url = validateUrl(req.body.rssFeed)
     if (!url) {
-      return res.status(400).send('Bad request')
+      return res.status(400).send('Invalid request body. "rssFeed" must be a valid URL')
     }
 
     const podcast = await getPodcastFeed(url)
diff --git a/server/utils/index.js b/server/utils/index.js
index 0377b173..29a65885 100644
--- a/server/utils/index.js
+++ b/server/utils/index.js
@@ -11,24 +11,24 @@ const levenshteinDistance = (str1, str2, caseSensitive = false) => {
     str2 = str2.toLowerCase()
   }
   const track = Array(str2.length + 1).fill(null).map(() =>
-    Array(str1.length + 1).fill(null));
+    Array(str1.length + 1).fill(null))
   for (let i = 0; i <= str1.length; i += 1) {
-    track[0][i] = i;
+    track[0][i] = i
   }
   for (let j = 0; j <= str2.length; j += 1) {
-    track[j][0] = j;
+    track[j][0] = j
   }
   for (let j = 1; j <= str2.length; j += 1) {
     for (let i = 1; i <= str1.length; i += 1) {
-      const indicator = str1[i - 1] === str2[j - 1] ? 0 : 1;
+      const indicator = str1[i - 1] === str2[j - 1] ? 0 : 1
       track[j][i] = Math.min(
         track[j][i - 1] + 1, // deletion
         track[j - 1][i] + 1, // insertion
         track[j - 1][i - 1] + indicator, // substitution
-      );
+      )
     }
   }
-  return track[str2.length][str1.length];
+  return track[str2.length][str1.length]
 }
 module.exports.levenshteinDistance = levenshteinDistance
 
@@ -204,4 +204,20 @@ module.exports.asciiOnlyToLowerCase = (str) => {
 module.exports.escapeRegExp = (str) => {
   if (typeof str !== 'string') return ''
   return str.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&')
+}
+
+/**
+ * Validate url string with URL class
+ * 
+ * @param {string} rawUrl 
+ * @returns {string} null if invalid
+ */
+module.exports.validateUrl = (rawUrl) => {
+  if (!rawUrl || typeof rawUrl !== 'string') return null
+  try {
+    return new URL(rawUrl).toString()
+  } catch (error) {
+    Logger.error(`Invalid URL "${rawUrl}"`, error)
+    return null
+  }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/server/utils/podcastUtils.js b/server/utils/podcastUtils.js
index 87b080d7..819ec914 100644
--- a/server/utils/podcastUtils.js
+++ b/server/utils/podcastUtils.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-const Logger = require('../Logger')
 const axios = require('axios')
+const ssrfFilter = require('ssrf-req-filter')
+const Logger = require('../Logger')
 const { xmlToJSON, levenshteinDistance } = require('./index')
 const htmlSanitizer = require('../utils/htmlSanitizer')
 
@@ -216,9 +217,26 @@ module.exports.parsePodcastRssFeedXml = async (xml, excludeEpisodeMetadata = fal
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Get podcast RSS feed as JSON
+ * Uses SSRF filter to prevent internal URLs
+ * 
+ * @param {string} feedUrl 
+ * @param {boolean} [excludeEpisodeMetadata=false]
+ * @returns {Promise}
+ */
 module.exports.getPodcastFeed = (feedUrl, excludeEpisodeMetadata = false) => {
   Logger.debug(`[podcastUtils] getPodcastFeed for "${feedUrl}"`)
-  return axios.get(feedUrl, { timeout: 12000, responseType: 'arraybuffer', headers: { Accept: 'application/rss+xml' } }).then(async (data) => {
+
+  return axios({
+    url: feedUrl,
+    method: 'GET',
+    timeout: 12000,
+    responseType: 'arraybuffer',
+    headers: { Accept: 'application/rss+xml' },
+    httpAgent: ssrfFilter(feedUrl),
+    httpsAgent: ssrfFilter(feedUrl)
+  }).then(async (data) => {
 
     // Adding support for ios-8859-1 encoded RSS feeds.
     //  See: https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf/issues/1489
@@ -231,12 +249,12 @@ module.exports.getPodcastFeed = (feedUrl, excludeEpisodeMetadata = false) => {
 
     if (!data?.data) {
       Logger.error(`[podcastUtils] getPodcastFeed: Invalid podcast feed request response (${feedUrl})`)
-      return false
+      return null
     }
     Logger.debug(`[podcastUtils] getPodcastFeed for "${feedUrl}" success - parsing xml`)
     const payload = await this.parsePodcastRssFeedXml(data.data, excludeEpisodeMetadata)
     if (!payload) {
-      return false
+      return null
     }
 
     // RSS feed may be a private RSS feed
@@ -245,7 +263,7 @@ module.exports.getPodcastFeed = (feedUrl, excludeEpisodeMetadata = false) => {
     return payload.podcast
   }).catch((error) => {
     Logger.error('[podcastUtils] getPodcastFeed Error', error)
-    return false
+    return null
   })
 }