diff --git a/docs/deployment.md b/docs/deployment.md
index efa1ffb..546052f 100644
--- a/docs/deployment.md
+++ b/docs/deployment.md
@@ -147,8 +147,6 @@ These are known deployment risks tracked as follow-up work:
 - Queue events are shape-validated but not authenticated. Protect
   `$GIT_DIR/sip/queue` with service-owned permissions and add event signing or a
   MAC before relying on queue provenance.
-- Queued event refs need the same `git check-ref-format` validation used for
-  protected workflow refs.
 - Pull and merge namespaces should remain rejected until their system-owned
   semantics are defined.
 - Wasmtime resource limits are not yet configured.
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index bb119c2..2a6804e 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ fn run_worker(repo: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
             .ok_or_else(|| format!("invalid queue filename {}", event_path.display()))?
             .to_string();
 
-        let event = match parse_event(&event_path) {
+        let event = match parse_event(repo, &event_path) {
             Ok(event) => event,
             Err(_) => {
                 fail_event(&event_path, &dirs.failed, &name)?;
@@ -240,7 +240,7 @@ fn git_dir(repo: &Path) -> Result<PathBuf, String> {
     }
 }
 
-fn parse_event(path: &Path) -> Result<Event, String> {
+fn parse_event(repo: &Path, path: &Path) -> Result<Event, String> {
     let body = fs::read_to_string(path)
         .map_err(|err| format!("could not read {}: {err}", path.display()))?;
     let mut lines = body.lines();
@@ -270,6 +270,9 @@ fn parse_event(path: &Path) -> Result<Event, String> {
     if !(reference.starts_with("refs/heads/") || reference.starts_with("refs/tags/")) {
         return Err("invalid event ref namespace".to_string());
     }
+    if !git_status(repo, ["check-ref-format", reference])? {
+        return Err("invalid event ref format".to_string());
+    }
     if actor.is_empty() || !actor.bytes().all(is_actor_byte) {
         return Err("invalid actor".to_string());
     }
diff --git a/tests/integration.rc b/tests/integration.rc
index 61ba7a0..5a4e38d 100755
--- a/tests/integration.rc
+++ b/tests/integration.rc
@@ -440,6 +440,10 @@ fn test_malformed_event_is_failed {
 	printf '1\tbad\tbad\trefs/heads/main\tactor\t0\tcreate\n' >$remote^/sip/queue/bad.event
 	printf '2\t0000000000000000000000000000000000000000\t1111111111111111111111111111111111111111\trefs/heads/main\tactor\t1\tcreate\n' >$remote^/sip/queue/bad-version.event
 	printf '1\t0000000000000000000000000000000000000000\t1111111111111111111111111111111111111111\trefs/notes/main\tactor\t1\tcreate\n' >$remote^/sip/queue/bad-ref.event
+	printf '1\t0000000000000000000000000000000000000000\t1111111111111111111111111111111111111111\trefs/heads/../ci/pwn\tactor\t1\tcreate\n' >$remote^/sip/queue/bad-ref-traversal.event
+	printf '1\t0000000000000000000000000000000000000000\t1111111111111111111111111111111111111111\trefs/heads//x\tactor\t1\tcreate\n' >$remote^/sip/queue/bad-ref-slash.event
+	printf '1\t0000000000000000000000000000000000000000\t1111111111111111111111111111111111111111\trefs/heads/topic.lock\tactor\t1\tcreate\n' >$remote^/sip/queue/bad-ref-lock.event
+	printf '1\t0000000000000000000000000000000000000000\t1111111111111111111111111111111111111111\trefs/heads/bad..name\tactor\t1\tcreate\n' >$remote^/sip/queue/bad-ref-dotdot.event
 	printf '1\t0000000000000000000000000000000000000000\t1111111111111111111111111111111111111111\trefs/heads/main\tactor\t1\tupdate\n' >$remote^/sip/queue/bad-kind.event
 
 	$root^/bin/sip-worker.rc $remote >/dev/null >[2]/dev/null
@@ -449,6 +453,14 @@ fn test_malformed_event_is_failed {
 		fail unsupported event version should move to failed queue
 	if(! test -f $remote^/sip/failed/bad-ref.event)
 		fail unknown event ref namespace should move to failed queue
+	if(! test -f $remote^/sip/failed/bad-ref-traversal.event)
+		fail traversal-like event ref should move to failed queue
+	if(! test -f $remote^/sip/failed/bad-ref-slash.event)
+		fail event ref with double slash should move to failed queue
+	if(! test -f $remote^/sip/failed/bad-ref-lock.event)
+		fail event ref with lock suffix should move to failed queue
+	if(! test -f $remote^/sip/failed/bad-ref-dotdot.event)
+		fail event ref with dotdot should move to failed queue
 	if(! test -f $remote^/sip/failed/bad-kind.event)
 		fail inconsistent event kind should move to failed queue
 }