diff --git a/packages/pickled-core/src/pickled_core/mcp/transport.py b/packages/pickled-core/src/pickled_core/mcp/transport.py
index e7d94f4..afc64c9 100644
--- a/packages/pickled-core/src/pickled_core/mcp/transport.py
+++ b/packages/pickled-core/src/pickled_core/mcp/transport.py
@@ -3,22 +3,27 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import ipaddress
+import socket
 from typing import Any, Literal
 
 
 def _is_unspecified_address(host: str) -> bool:
     """Return True iff ``host`` is an IPv4/IPv6 wildcard ("unspecified") address.
 
-    The previous implementation only rejected the literal string ``0.0.0.0``,
-    which let callers bind to ``::`` / ``[::]`` (the IPv6 wildcard) and bypass
-    the "no public binding without --allow-public" guard. That is a real
-    accidental-exposure footgun on any host with a routable IPv6 address: the
-    OS happily listens on every IPv6 interface, including public ones, and
-    typically accepts IPv4 traffic too via dual-stack mapping.
+    The original guard rejected only the literal string ``0.0.0.0``. PR #27
+    extended it to cover the IPv6 wildcard (``::`` / ``[::]`` and friends).
+    Both are still bypassed by ``inet_aton``-style legacy IPv4 short forms:
+    ``socket.bind(("0", port))``, ``("0.0", port)``, ``("0.0.0", port)``,
+    ``("0x0", port)`` and ``("00000000", port)`` all silently resolve to
+    ``0.0.0.0`` on POSIX systems (and uvicorn / asyncio happily forward them
+    to ``socket.bind``). On a host with a public network interface, any of
+    these would expose the MCP server without the user passing
+    ``--allow-public``.
 
     We accept the bracketed form ``[::]`` (uvicorn / FastMCP take it as well),
-    fully-expanded forms such as ``0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0``, and the IPv4-mapped
-    wildcard ``::ffff:0.0.0.0``. Whitespace is stripped so the heuristic is
+    fully-expanded forms such as ``0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0``, the IPv4-mapped
+    wildcard ``::ffff:0.0.0.0``, and any ``inet_aton``-compatible string that
+    canonicalises to ``0.0.0.0``. Whitespace is stripped so the heuristic is
     not defeated by trivial copy-paste artifacts. Hostnames are intentionally
     left untouched — we deliberately do not resolve DNS in this guard.
     """
@@ -28,12 +33,20 @@ def _is_unspecified_address(host: str) -> bool:
     try:
         addr = ipaddress.ip_address(stripped)
     except ValueError:
+        addr = None
+    if addr is not None:
+        if addr.is_unspecified:
+            return True
+        if isinstance(addr, ipaddress.IPv6Address) and addr.ipv4_mapped is not None:
+            return addr.ipv4_mapped.is_unspecified
         return False
-    if addr.is_unspecified:
-        return True
-    if isinstance(addr, ipaddress.IPv6Address) and addr.ipv4_mapped is not None:
-        return addr.ipv4_mapped.is_unspecified
-    return False
+    if not stripped or any(ch.isspace() for ch in stripped):
+        return False
+    try:
+        packed = socket.inet_aton(stripped)
+    except OSError:
+        return False
+    return packed == b"\x00\x00\x00\x00"
 
 
 def resolve_transport(
diff --git a/packages/pickled-core/tests/test_mcp_transport.py b/packages/pickled-core/tests/test_mcp_transport.py
index 0420fb1..3b328d0 100644
--- a/packages/pickled-core/tests/test_mcp_transport.py
+++ b/packages/pickled-core/tests/test_mcp_transport.py
@@ -66,3 +66,33 @@ def test_allow_loopback_and_specific_hosts_without_flag(host: str) -> None:
     """Loopback addresses and specific hostnames must not be misidentified as wildcards."""
     kw = resolve_transport("http", host, None, False)
     assert kw["host"] == host
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "host",
+    ["0", "0.0", "0.0.0", "0x0", "00000000", "0.00.0.0", " 0 ", "0x00000000"],
+)
+def test_refuse_inet_aton_short_forms_without_flag(host: str) -> None:
+    """``inet_aton``-style short forms of 0.0.0.0 must also require --allow-public.
+
+    POSIX ``socket.bind(("0", port))``, ``("0.0", port)`` etc. silently
+    canonicalise to ``0.0.0.0`` — the very bypass we are guarding against.
+    """
+    with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="wildcard"):
+        resolve_transport("http", host, None, False)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "host",
+    ["1", "127", "127.1", "10.0.0.1", "0.0.0.1", "0.1.0.0"],
+)
+def test_allow_inet_aton_specific_addresses_without_flag(host: str) -> None:
+    """``inet_aton``-style short forms that resolve to a *specific* address are fine."""
+    kw = resolve_transport("http", host, None, False)
+    assert kw["host"] == host
+
+
+def test_hostnames_with_zero_letters_are_not_wildcards() -> None:
+    """A hostname like 'zero.example.com' must not be misclassified as a wildcard."""
+    kw = resolve_transport("http", "zero.example.com", None, False)
+    assert kw["host"] == "zero.example.com"