diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index e8423da8..5f749c13 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.4.10
+0.4.11
diff --git a/nostr_core/nostr_core.h b/nostr_core/nostr_core.h
index 14cf35ac..2141751d 100644
--- a/nostr_core/nostr_core.h
+++ b/nostr_core/nostr_core.h
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@
 #define NOSTR_CORE_H
 
 // Version information (auto-updated by increment_and_push.sh)
-#define VERSION "v0.4.10"
+#define VERSION "v0.4.11"
 #define VERSION_MAJOR 0
 #define VERSION_MINOR 4
-#define VERSION_PATCH 10
+#define VERSION_PATCH 11
 
 /*
  * NOSTR Core Library - Complete API Reference
diff --git a/nostr_websocket/nostr_websocket_openssl.c b/nostr_websocket/nostr_websocket_openssl.c
index 38714c9b..e4a8a8af 100644
--- a/nostr_websocket/nostr_websocket_openssl.c
+++ b/nostr_websocket/nostr_websocket_openssl.c
@@ -453,6 +453,13 @@ static int tcp_connect(void* ctx, const char* host, int port) {
         tcp->socket_fd = -1;
         return -1;
     }
+
+    // Safety timeout: prevent indefinite blocking in recv/send on half-broken sockets.
+    struct timeval io_timeout;
+    io_timeout.tv_sec = 5;
+    io_timeout.tv_usec = 0;
+    (void)setsockopt(tcp->socket_fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVTIMEO, &io_timeout, sizeof(io_timeout));
+    (void)setsockopt(tcp->socket_fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_SNDTIMEO, &io_timeout, sizeof(io_timeout));
     
     return 0;
 }