diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 03f3f96..f28af49 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,19 +11,19 @@ and swap the HTTP client while inheriting everything else.
 `requirements.txt`:
 
 ```
-aioweb @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/aioweb.git@v1.0.2
+aioweb @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/aioweb.git@v1.1.0
 ```
 
 Direct:
 
 ```bash
-pip install "aioweb @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/aioweb.git@v1.0.2"
+pip install "aioweb @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/aioweb.git@v1.1.0"
 ```
 
 Requires `aiohttp` and `yarl` (pulled transitively), plus the sibling `commons` library
 (a private `git+ssh` package — the install needs access to the `rethink-public` org).
 
-Drop the `@v1.0.2` suffix from the line above to install the latest unpinned.
+Drop the `@v1.1.0` suffix from the line above to install the latest unpinned.
 
 ## Usage
 
@@ -150,6 +150,22 @@ Two changes can't be shimmed without re-introducing the bugs they fix:
 
 ## Changelog
 
+### v1.1.0
+
+- **Hang-guard on `request()` — a wedged backend can no longer park the loop forever.**
+  `request()` now wraps the backend call (`_raw_request`) in an outer `asyncio.wait_for`
+  deadline sized at the effective timeout **+ 5s slack** (`_HANG_GUARD_SLACK`). The
+  backend's own timeout still fires first in every healthy failure (slack, not
+  replacement); the envelope only trips when the backend's timer is dead — e.g. a
+  `curl_cffi` transfer that loses both its wakeup and its own enforcement in the same
+  failure — and its cancellation is what unwedges the orphaned transfer. The guard's
+  deadline is the per-call numeric `timeout` when given, else the session timeout
+  (`Session(timeout=...)`, default 10s); it composes cleanly with `request_with_retries`
+  (a wedge becomes one logged `ServerTimeoutError`, the next attempt proceeds, and an
+  exhausted retry returns a `FailureResponse` rather than hanging). **Opt-out:** a
+  session deliberately constructed unbounded (`Session(timeout=None)`) stays unguarded,
+  for genuinely long-lived calls (long-poll / streaming). Additive; no new knob.
+
 ### v0.1.13
 
 - **Session-default timeout no longer poisons pooled keep-alive connections.**
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index bce33d7..b376e14 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
 name = "aioweb"
-version = "1.0.2"
+version = "1.1.0"
 description = "Async HTTP session wrapper over aiohttp — proxies, header overwrites, retries, previews. Config-free, installable."
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
 dependencies = [
diff --git a/src/aioweb/session.py b/src/aioweb/session.py
index abea816..a503696 100644
--- a/src/aioweb/session.py
+++ b/src/aioweb/session.py
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 DEFAULT_ATTEMPTS = 3
 DEFAULT_BACKOFF_BASE = 2.0
 RETRY_STATUSES = frozenset({429, 500, 502, 503, 504})
+_HANG_GUARD_SLACK = 5
 
 
 class ExtendedSession:
@@ -425,6 +426,17 @@ class ExtendedSession:
         kwargs["headers"] = {str(k): str(v) for k, v in kwargs["headers"].items()}
 
         timeout = kwargs.get("timeout")
+        # the hang-guard deadline, captured as a bare number BEFORE the ClientTimeout
+        # conversion below consumes it: a per-call numeric timeout, else the session
+        # default. a timeout=None (omitted, or the explicit None request_with_retries
+        # passes) means "use the session bound" - so it guards on self._session_timeout,
+        # NOT unguarded. the ONLY unguarded case is a session deliberately constructed
+        # unbounded (Session(timeout=None) -> self._session_timeout is None): the
+        # documented opt-out for a genuinely unbounded call (long-poll/streaming).
+        if isinstance(timeout, (int, float)):
+            guard_secs = timeout
+        else:
+            guard_secs = self._session_timeout
         if isinstance(timeout, (int, float)):
             kwargs["timeout"] = aiohttp.ClientTimeout(total=timeout)
         elif timeout is None and "timeout" in kwargs:
@@ -438,13 +450,25 @@ class ExtendedSession:
             log.info("sending request to: %s", url)
 
         try:
-            result = await self._raw_request(method, url, **kwargs)
+            # hang-guard: an outer asyncio deadline (session/curl timers can die in the
+            # same failure that parks the transfer - a backend that loses both wakeup and
+            # its own timeout enforcement would otherwise leave this await parked forever).
+            # the backend's own timeout still fires first in every healthy failure (slack,
+            # not replacement); wait_for only trips when the backend's enforcement is dead,
+            # and its cancellation is what unwedges the orphaned transfer.
+            if guard_secs is not None:
+                result = await asyncio.wait_for(
+                    self._raw_request(method, url, **kwargs), guard_secs + _HANG_GUARD_SLACK
+                )
+            else:
+                result = await self._raw_request(method, url, **kwargs)
             if debug and result.redirect_chain:
                 log.info("redirect chain: %s", result.redirect_chain)
             return result
         except asyncio.TimeoutError as error:
-            # not an aiohttp.ClientError subclass - wrap as ServerTimeoutError so
-            # callers get a typed failure and request_with_retries can label it a timeout
+            # not an aiohttp.ClientError subclass - wrap as ServerTimeoutError so callers
+            # get a typed failure and request_with_retries can label it a timeout. now also
+            # catches the hang-guard firing (asyncio.wait_for raises asyncio.TimeoutError).
             raise aiohttp.ServerTimeoutError(f"timeout for {url}: {error}") from error
         except aiohttp.ClientError as error:
             # re-raise the original subtype (not flattened) - request_with_retries still