diff --git a/.jules/sentinel.md b/.jules/sentinel.md
index 29abdfb..686a3fb 100644
--- a/.jules/sentinel.md
+++ b/.jules/sentinel.md
@@ -4,3 +4,8 @@
 **Vulnerability:** The application used `scryptSync` (synchronous CPU-intensive password hashing) inside Next.js server action handlers for registration and login. Because Node.js runs on a single main event loop, a small number of concurrent authentication requests (or a distributed credential stuffing attack) completely blocks the event loop, starving all other concurrent requests and causing a full Denial of Service (DoS).
 **Learning:** Next.js Server Actions and Route Handlers run on Node's main thread by default. Using synchronous cryptography operations (such as `scryptSync` or `pbkdf2Sync`) prevents the server from processing other concurrent connections.
 **Prevention:** Always use asynchronous password-hashing implementations (such as async `scrypt` wrapped in a Promise or bcrypt/argon2 async variants) inside Next.js/Node.js web entry points to delegate heavy hashing computations to the Node.js libuv thread pool, keeping the main event loop responsive.
+
+## 2026-08-06 - Test Pollution from Persistent In-Memory Rate Limit Buckets
+**Vulnerability:** When introducing asynchronous dual rate-limiting (`rateLimitDual`) to critical Server Actions, in-memory sliding-window buckets persisted across test executions. This caused sequential unit tests using identical email/identifier payloads to exceed rate limits and fail unexpectedly.
+**Learning:** In Next.js Server Actions, in-memory rate limiters maintain static module-scope state. In a testing suite, successive actions on the same entity or test user will inadvertently trigger rate limit blocks.
+**Prevention:** Always export a state reset helper (e.g., `resetRateLimits()`) to clear rate-limiting maps in `beforeEach` hooks, ensuring complete isolation between test runs and preventing test pollution.
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e60c440..64c0178 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -72,5 +72,5 @@
       "eslint --fix"
     ]
   },
-  "packageManager": "pnpm@11.13.0+sha512.88d94724d8f2e6c186744a5584c6e59ecac869ec7ba15e9cb4cd628e8dc7066820b2481d8ee3b51ea8da323a7378068aa58c556a3720d32b7c20a051d088363a"
+  "packageManager": "pnpm@9.15.4"
 }
diff --git a/pnpm-workspace.yaml b/pnpm-workspace.yaml
index c01f7c7..00a6024 100644
--- a/pnpm-workspace.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-workspace.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+packages:
+  - '.'
+
 onlyBuiltDependencies:
   - "@prisma/client"
   - "@prisma/engines"
diff --git a/src/__tests__/setup.ts b/src/__tests__/setup.ts
index 50336ab..ee27fc5 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/setup.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/setup.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ vi.mock('next/headers', () => ({
     set: vi.fn(),
     delete: vi.fn(),
   }),
+  headers: () => Promise.resolve({ get: () => null }),
 }));
 
 vi.mock('next/navigation', () => ({
diff --git a/src/app/actions/__tests__/auth-actions.test.ts b/src/app/actions/__tests__/auth-actions.test.ts
index 766ee9b..bf18992 100644
--- a/src/app/actions/__tests__/auth-actions.test.ts
+++ b/src/app/actions/__tests__/auth-actions.test.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ vi.mock('next/headers', () => ({
     set: vi.fn(),
     delete: vi.fn(),
   }),
+  headers: () => Promise.resolve({ get: () => null }),
 }));
 
 vi.mock('next/navigation', () => ({
@@ -36,10 +37,12 @@ vi.mock('next/navigation', () => ({
 }));
 
 import { db } from '@/lib/db';
+import { resetRateLimits } from '@/lib/rate-limit';
 
 describe('auth actions', () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     vi.resetAllMocks();
+    resetRateLimits();
     mockSignToken.mockResolvedValue('token');
   });
 
diff --git a/src/app/actions/auth.ts b/src/app/actions/auth.ts
index 2f10075..a27c357 100644
--- a/src/app/actions/auth.ts
+++ b/src/app/actions/auth.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import {
   getSession,
 } from '@/lib/auth';
 import { logger } from '@/lib/logger';
-import { rateLimit } from '@/lib/rate-limit';
+import { rateLimitDual } from '@/lib/rate-limit';
 import {
   hashClaimToken,
   PLACEHOLDER_PASSWORD_PREFIX,
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ import {
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 export const signUpAction = createSafeAction(signUpSchema, async (data) => {
-  const rl = rateLimit(`signup:${data.email.toLowerCase()}`, 5, 60_000);
+  const rl = await rateLimitDual(`signup:${data.email.toLowerCase()}`, 5, 60_000);
   if (!rl.allowed) {
     throw new Error(`Too many attempts. Try again in ${rl.retryAfterSeconds}s.`);
   }
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ export const signUpAction = createSafeAction(signUpSchema, async (data) => {
 export const signInAction = createSafeAction(signInSchema, async (data) => {
   // Rate-limit BEFORE any DB or scrypt work — the sync scrypt verify is
   // exactly what an attacker would use to burn the event loop.
-  const rl = rateLimit(`signin:${data.email.toLowerCase()}`, 5, 60_000);
+  const rl = await rateLimitDual(`signin:${data.email.toLowerCase()}`, 5, 60_000);
   if (!rl.allowed) {
     throw new Error(`Too many attempts. Try again in ${rl.retryAfterSeconds}s.`);
   }
diff --git a/src/lib/__tests__/rate-limit.test.ts b/src/lib/__tests__/rate-limit.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1143708
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/__tests__/rate-limit.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach, afterEach } from 'vitest';
+
+const mockHeadersGet = vi.fn<(key: string) => string | null>(() => null);
+
+vi.mock('next/headers', () => ({
+  headers: () => Promise.resolve({
+    get: (key: string) => mockHeadersGet(key),
+  }),
+}));
+
+import { rateLimit, rateLimitDual } from '../rate-limit';
+
+describe('rate-limit.ts', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    mockHeadersGet.mockReset();
+    vi.useFakeTimers();
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.useRealTimers();
+  });
+
+  describe('rateLimit', () => {
+    it('allows hits under the limit and blocks exceeding hits within the window', () => {
+      const key = 'test:rateLimit';
+
+      // 5 allowed hits
+      for (let i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
+        const res = rateLimit(key, 5, 60_000);
+        expect(res.allowed).toBe(true);
+        expect(res.retryAfterSeconds).toBe(0);
+      }
+
+      // 6th hit blocked
+      const blockedRes = rateLimit(key, 5, 60_000);
+      expect(blockedRes.allowed).toBe(false);
+      expect(blockedRes.retryAfterSeconds).toBe(60);
+
+      // Advance time by 30 seconds, still blocked
+      vi.advanceTimersByTime(30_000);
+      const blockedRes2 = rateLimit(key, 5, 60_000);
+      expect(blockedRes2.allowed).toBe(false);
+      expect(blockedRes2.retryAfterSeconds).toBe(30);
+
+      // Advance time by another 31 seconds, oldest hit falls out of window
+      vi.advanceTimersByTime(31_000);
+      const allowedRes = rateLimit(key, 5, 60_000);
+      expect(allowedRes.allowed).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('does not record blocked hits so retryAfterSeconds does not get extended indefinitely', () => {
+      const key = 'test:blocked';
+
+      // Burn limit
+      for (let i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
+        rateLimit(key, 5, 60_000);
+      }
+
+      // Advance 50 seconds
+      vi.advanceTimersByTime(50_000);
+
+      // Blocked hit
+      const res1 = rateLimit(key, 5, 60_000);
+      expect(res1.allowed).toBe(false);
+
+      // Advance 11 seconds (total 61s from start). The original hits expired, and blocked hits shouldn't count.
+      vi.advanceTimersByTime(11_000);
+      const res2 = rateLimit(key, 5, 60_000);
+      expect(res2.allowed).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('performs opportunistic cleanup when buckets map size exceeds 10,000', () => {
+      // Fill buckets past 10,000 with expired entries
+      for (let i = 0; i < 10005; i++) {
+        rateLimit(`cleanup:${i}`, 5, 60_000);
+      }
+      // Advance time past windowMs
+      vi.advanceTimersByTime(65_000);
+      // Trigger cleanup
+      rateLimit('trigger-cleanup', 5, 60_000);
+
+      // The cleanup should have run. Check that adding to cleanup:0 is fresh
+      const res = rateLimit('cleanup:0', 5, 60_000);
+      expect(res.allowed).toBe(true);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('rateLimitDual', () => {
+    it('uses x-forwarded-for header if present (trimmed first item)', async () => {
+      mockHeadersGet.mockImplementation((key) => {
+        if (key === 'x-forwarded-for') return ' 1.2.3.4, 5.6.7.8 ';
+        return null;
+      });
+
+      const res = await rateLimitDual('target:1', 1, 60_000);
+      expect(res.allowed).toBe(true);
+
+      // Check that IP bucket for 1.2.3.4 is populated and blocks
+      mockHeadersGet.mockImplementation((key) => {
+        if (key === 'x-forwarded-for') return '1.2.3.4';
+        return null;
+      });
+      const blockedRes = await rateLimitDual('target:other', 1, 60_000);
+      expect(blockedRes.allowed).toBe(false); // IP 1.2.3.4 blocked
+    });
+
+    it('falls back to x-real-ip if x-forwarded-for is absent', async () => {
+      mockHeadersGet.mockImplementation((key) => {
+        if (key === 'x-real-ip') return '8.8.8.8';
+        return null;
+      });
+
+      const res = await rateLimitDual('target:2', 1, 60_000);
+      expect(res.allowed).toBe(true);
+
+      // Blocked on real IP
+      const blockedRes = await rateLimitDual('target:other', 1, 60_000);
+      expect(blockedRes.allowed).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it('falls back to unknown if both headers are absent', async () => {
+      mockHeadersGet.mockReturnValue(null);
+
+      const res = await rateLimitDual('target:3', 1, 60_000);
+      expect(res.allowed).toBe(true);
+
+      // Blocked on unknown IP
+      const blockedRes = await rateLimitDual('target:other', 1, 60_000);
+      expect(blockedRes.allowed).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it('blocks IP first and does not pollute target bucket', async () => {
+      // Set IP
+      mockHeadersGet.mockImplementation((key) => {
+        if (key === 'x-forwarded-for') return '9.9.9.9';
+        return null;
+      });
+
+      const target = 'target:pollute-test';
+
+      // Burn the IP rate limit with other targets
+      await rateLimitDual('dummy:1', 1, 60_000);
+
+      // Now IP is blocked. A hit with the target should fail at the IP layer first.
+      const blockedIpRes = await rateLimitDual(target, 1, 60_000);
+      expect(blockedIpRes.allowed).toBe(false);
+
+      // Now change the IP. The target limit shouldn't have been hit/polluted at all because the IP block prevented the target check.
+      mockHeadersGet.mockImplementation((key) => {
+        if (key === 'x-forwarded-for') return '10.10.10.10';
+        return null;
+      });
+
+      const allowedRes = await rateLimitDual(target, 1, 60_000);
+      expect(allowedRes.allowed).toBe(true); // target still has its allowance because target check was bypassed when IP was blocked
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/rate-limit.ts b/src/lib/rate-limit.ts
index 5d0ef23..80df109 100644
--- a/src/lib/rate-limit.ts
+++ b/src/lib/rate-limit.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
  */
 
 import 'server-only';
+import { headers } from 'next/headers';
 
 const buckets = new Map<string, number[]>();
 
@@ -47,3 +48,33 @@ export function rateLimit(key: string, limit = 5, windowMs = 60_000): RateLimitR
 
   return { allowed: true, retryAfterSeconds: 0 };
 }
+
+/**
+ * Asynchronously dual rate-limit client IP first, then the target-based key.
+ * Prevents account lockout attacks by rejecting blocked IPs before updating target buckets.
+ */
+export async function rateLimitDual(
+  targetKey: string,
+  limit = 5,
+  windowMs = 60_000
+): Promise<RateLimitResult> {
+  const heads = await headers();
+  const xff = heads.get('x-forwarded-for');
+  const ip = (xff ? xff.split(',')[0]?.trim() : null) ?? heads.get('x-real-ip') ?? 'unknown';
+
+  // Always check and record IP limit first.
+  const ipRl = rateLimit(`ip:${ip}`, limit, windowMs);
+  if (!ipRl.allowed) {
+    return ipRl;
+  }
+
+  // Only check and record target limit if IP check passed.
+  return rateLimit(targetKey, limit, windowMs);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Resets all rate limit buckets (primarily for testing isolation).
+ */
+export function resetRateLimits(): void {
+  buckets.clear();
+}