diff --git a/examples/rpc/README.md b/examples/rpc/README.md
index e1da801f2..adedc8909 100644
--- a/examples/rpc/README.md
+++ b/examples/rpc/README.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 ## Overview
 
+> [!IMPORTANT]
+> This example and the RPC backend are currently in a proof-of-concept development stage. As such, the functionality is fragile and
+> insecure. **Never run the RPC server on an open network or in a sensitive environment!**
+
 The `rpc-server` allows  running `ggml` backend on a remote host.
 The RPC backend communicates with one or several instances of `rpc-server` and offloads computations to them.
 This can be used for distributed LLM inference with `llama.cpp` in the following way:
diff --git a/examples/rpc/rpc-server.cpp b/examples/rpc/rpc-server.cpp
index 7c15d2aa4..6342e6488 100644
--- a/examples/rpc/rpc-server.cpp
+++ b/examples/rpc/rpc-server.cpp
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 
 struct rpc_server_params {
-    std::string host        = "0.0.0.0";
+    std::string host        = "127.0.0.1";
     int         port        = 50052;
     size_t      backend_mem = 0;
 };
@@ -114,6 +114,17 @@ int main(int argc, char * argv[]) {
         fprintf(stderr, "Invalid parameters\n");
         return 1;
     }
+
+    if (params.host != "127.0.0.1") {
+        fprintf(stderr, "\n");
+        fprintf(stderr, "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\n");
+        fprintf(stderr, "WARNING: Host ('%s') is != '127.0.0.1'\n", params.host.c_str());
+        fprintf(stderr, "         Never expose the RPC server to an open network!\n");
+        fprintf(stderr, "         This is an experimental feature and is not secure!\n");
+        fprintf(stderr, "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!\n");
+        fprintf(stderr, "\n");
+    }
+
     ggml_backend_t backend = create_backend();
     if (!backend) {
         fprintf(stderr, "Failed to create backend\n");
diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-rpc.cpp b/ggml/src/ggml-rpc.cpp
index b01ad2674..7757615f5 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-rpc.cpp
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-rpc.cpp
@@ -197,6 +197,10 @@ static std::shared_ptr<socket_t> create_server_socket(const char * host, int por
         fprintf(stderr, "Failed to set SO_REUSEADDR\n");
         return nullptr;
     }
+    if (inet_addr(host) == INADDR_NONE) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Invalid host address: %s\n", host);
+        return nullptr;
+    }
     struct sockaddr_in serv_addr;
     serv_addr.sin_family = AF_INET;
     serv_addr.sin_addr.s_addr = inet_addr(host);
@@ -879,6 +883,14 @@ ggml_tensor * rpc_server::deserialize_tensor(struct ggml_context * ctx, const rp
     if (result->buffer && buffers.find(result->buffer) == buffers.end()) {
         return nullptr;
     }
+
+    // require that the tensor data does not go beyond the buffer end
+    uint64_t tensor_size = (uint64_t) ggml_nbytes(result);
+    uint64_t buffer_start = (uint64_t) ggml_backend_buffer_get_base(result->buffer);
+    uint64_t buffer_size = (uint64_t) ggml_backend_buffer_get_size(result->buffer);
+    GGML_ASSERT(tensor->data + tensor_size >= tensor->data); // check for overflow
+    GGML_ASSERT(tensor->data >= buffer_start && tensor->data + tensor_size <= buffer_start + buffer_size);
+
     result->op = (ggml_op) tensor->op;
     for (uint32_t i = 0; i < GGML_MAX_OP_PARAMS / sizeof(int32_t); i++) {
         result->op_params[i] = tensor->op_params[i];
@@ -898,7 +910,7 @@ bool rpc_server::set_tensor(const std::vector<uint8_t> & input) {
     const rpc_tensor * in_tensor = (const rpc_tensor *)input.data();
     uint64_t offset;
     memcpy(&offset, input.data() + sizeof(rpc_tensor), sizeof(offset));
-    size_t size = input.size() - sizeof(rpc_tensor) - sizeof(offset);
+    const size_t size = input.size() - sizeof(rpc_tensor) - sizeof(offset);
 
     struct ggml_init_params params {
         /*.mem_size   =*/ ggml_tensor_overhead(),
@@ -913,6 +925,17 @@ bool rpc_server::set_tensor(const std::vector<uint8_t> & input) {
         return false;
     }
     GGML_PRINT_DEBUG("[%s] buffer: %p, data: %p, offset: %" PRIu64 ", size: %zu\n", __func__, (void*)tensor->buffer, tensor->data, offset, size);
+
+    // sanitize tensor->data
+    {
+        const size_t p0 = (size_t) ggml_backend_buffer_get_base(tensor->buffer);
+        const size_t p1 = p0 + ggml_backend_buffer_get_size(tensor->buffer);
+
+        if (in_tensor->data + offset < p0 || in_tensor->data + offset >= p1 || size > (p1 - in_tensor->data - offset)) {
+            GGML_ABORT("[%s] tensor->data out of bounds\n", __func__);
+        }
+    }
+
     const void * data = input.data() + sizeof(rpc_tensor) + sizeof(offset);
     ggml_backend_tensor_set(tensor, data, offset, size);
     ggml_free(ctx);
@@ -943,6 +966,17 @@ bool rpc_server::get_tensor(const std::vector<uint8_t> & input, std::vector<uint
         return false;
     }
     GGML_PRINT_DEBUG("[%s] buffer: %p, data: %p, offset: %" PRIu64 ", size: %" PRIu64 "\n", __func__, (void*)tensor->buffer, tensor->data, offset, size);
+
+    // sanitize tensor->data
+    {
+        const size_t p0 = (size_t) ggml_backend_buffer_get_base(tensor->buffer);
+        const size_t p1 = p0 + ggml_backend_buffer_get_size(tensor->buffer);
+
+        if (in_tensor->data + offset < p0 || in_tensor->data + offset >= p1 || size > (p1 - in_tensor->data - offset)) {
+            GGML_ABORT("[%s] tensor->data out of bounds\n", __func__);
+        }
+    }
+
     // output serialization format: | data (size bytes) |
     output.resize(size, 0);
     ggml_backend_tensor_get(tensor, output.data(), offset, size);
diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml.c b/ggml/src/ggml.c
index c937b5e53..38990e3a0 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml.c
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml.c
@@ -3724,7 +3724,8 @@ static struct ggml_tensor * ggml_new_tensor_impl(
         struct ggml_tensor  * view_src,
         size_t                view_offs) {
 
-    assert(n_dims >= 1 && n_dims <= GGML_MAX_DIMS);
+    GGML_ASSERT(type >= 0 && type < GGML_TYPE_COUNT);
+    GGML_ASSERT(n_dims >= 1 && n_dims <= GGML_MAX_DIMS);
 
     // find the base tensor and absolute offset
     if (view_src != NULL && view_src->view_src != NULL) {