diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
index 52dc39e..1a7b8ee 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## Pending
+
+### Fixes
+
+- apply configured timeout to MMDB downloads and expose IP intelligence timeout option (ipintelligence)
+  - wrap MMDB fetch requests with AbortController-based timeout handling
+  - pass SmartNetwork ipIntelligenceTimeout through to IpIntelligence initialization
+  - add test coverage to verify timed-out MMDB downloads are aborted
+
 ## 2026-04-30 - 4.7.1 - fix(build)
 enforce stricter TypeScript checks and update build dependencies
 
@@ -303,4 +312,4 @@ New feature added.
 
 ## 2017-12-12 - 1.0.1 - initial
 Initial commit.
-- Initial project setup.
\ No newline at end of file
+- Initial project setup.
diff --git a/test/test.ipintelligence.ts b/test/test.ipintelligence.ts
index d8e73ce..e083ff6 100644
--- a/test/test.ipintelligence.ts
+++ b/test/test.ipintelligence.ts
@@ -99,6 +99,32 @@ tap.test('should use cache when cacheTtl is set', async () => {
   await cached.stop();
 });
 
+tap.test('should apply timeout to IP intelligence MMDB downloads', async () => {
+  const originalFetch = globalThis.fetch;
+  let sawAbort = false;
+  globalThis.fetch = (async (_url: RequestInfo | URL, init?: RequestInit) => {
+    return await new Promise<Response>((_resolve, reject) => {
+      init?.signal?.addEventListener('abort', () => {
+        sawAbort = true;
+        reject(new Error('aborted'));
+      }, { once: true });
+    });
+  }) as typeof fetch;
+
+  const intelligence = new smartnetwork.IpIntelligence({ timeout: 10 });
+  let caught: Error | undefined;
+  try {
+    await (intelligence as any).fetchBuffer('https://example.com/test.mmdb');
+  } catch (error) {
+    caught = error as Error;
+  } finally {
+    globalThis.fetch = originalFetch;
+  }
+
+  expect(sawAbort).toEqual(true);
+  expect(caught).toBeTruthy();
+});
+
 tap.test('should stop cleanly (tears down shared smartdns client)', async () => {
   // If the Rust-backed smartdns bridge wasn't destroyed, this test process
   // would hang at exit instead of completing.
diff --git a/ts/smartnetwork.classes.ipintelligence.ts b/ts/smartnetwork.classes.ipintelligence.ts
index 2f15d92..e7c3519 100644
--- a/ts/smartnetwork.classes.ipintelligence.ts
+++ b/ts/smartnetwork.classes.ipintelligence.ts
@@ -522,14 +522,21 @@ export class IpIntelligence {
    * Fetch a URL and return the response as a Buffer
    */
   private async fetchBuffer(url: string): Promise<Buffer> {
-    const response = await fetch(url, {
-      headers: { 'User-Agent': '@push.rocks/smartnetwork' },
-    });
-    if (!response.ok) {
-      throw new Error(`Failed to fetch ${url}: HTTP ${response.status}`);
+    const controller = new AbortController();
+    const timeoutId = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), this.timeout);
+    try {
+      const response = await fetch(url, {
+        signal: controller.signal,
+        headers: { 'User-Agent': '@push.rocks/smartnetwork' },
+      });
+      if (!response.ok) {
+        throw new Error(`Failed to fetch ${url}: HTTP ${response.status}`);
+      }
+      const arrayBuffer = await response.arrayBuffer();
+      return Buffer.from(arrayBuffer);
+    } finally {
+      clearTimeout(timeoutId);
     }
-    const arrayBuffer = await response.arrayBuffer();
-    return Buffer.from(arrayBuffer);
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/ts/smartnetwork.classes.smartnetwork.ts b/ts/smartnetwork.classes.smartnetwork.ts
index e0ea951..37047ef 100644
--- a/ts/smartnetwork.classes.smartnetwork.ts
+++ b/ts/smartnetwork.classes.smartnetwork.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ type TSmartdnsClient = InstanceType<typeof plugins.smartdns.dnsClientMod.Smartdn
 export interface SmartNetworkOptions {
   /** Cache time-to-live in milliseconds for gateway and public IP lookups */
   cacheTtl?: number;
+  /** Timeout in milliseconds for IP intelligence RDAP/DNS/MMDB requests. Default: 5000 */
+  ipIntelligenceTimeout?: number;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -437,7 +439,10 @@ export class SmartNetwork {
    */
   public async getIpIntelligence(ip: string): Promise<IIpIntelligenceResult> {
     if (!this.ipIntelligence) {
-      this.ipIntelligence = new IpIntelligence({ dnsClient: this.ensureDnsClient() });
+      this.ipIntelligence = new IpIntelligence({
+        dnsClient: this.ensureDnsClient(),
+        timeout: this.options.ipIntelligenceTimeout,
+      });
     }
     const fetcher = () => this.ipIntelligence!.getIntelligence(ip);
     if (this.options.cacheTtl && this.options.cacheTtl > 0) {