diff --git a/crates/obscura-cdp/src/domains/page.rs b/crates/obscura-cdp/src/domains/page.rs
index 684a29e..7b85199 100644
--- a/crates/obscura-cdp/src/domains/page.rs
+++ b/crates/obscura-cdp/src/domains/page.rs
@@ -3,14 +3,7 @@ use serde_json::{json, Value};
 
 use crate::dispatch::CdpContext;
 use crate::types::CdpEvent;
-
-fn url_is_file_scheme(raw: &str) -> bool {
-    url::Url::parse(raw)
-        .map(|u| u.scheme().eq_ignore_ascii_case("file"))
-        .unwrap_or_else(|_| {
-            raw.trim_start().to_ascii_lowercase().starts_with("file:")
-        })
-}
+use crate::util::url_is_file_scheme;
 
 pub async fn handle(
     method: &str,
diff --git a/crates/obscura-cdp/src/domains/target.rs b/crates/obscura-cdp/src/domains/target.rs
index a5207a4..3d38e25 100644
--- a/crates/obscura-cdp/src/domains/target.rs
+++ b/crates/obscura-cdp/src/domains/target.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ use serde_json::{json, Value};
 
 use crate::dispatch::CdpContext;
 use crate::types::CdpEvent;
+use crate::util::url_is_file_scheme;
 
 pub async fn handle(method: &str, params: &Value, ctx: &mut CdpContext) -> Result<Value, String> {
     match method {
@@ -55,6 +56,17 @@ pub async fn handle(method: &str, params: &Value, ctx: &mut CdpContext) -> Resul
         }
         "createTarget" => {
             let url = params.get("url").and_then(|v| v.as_str()).unwrap_or("about:blank");
+
+            // Same gate as Page.navigate (GHSA-q55h-vfv9-qcr5). Without this,
+            // a CDP client can call Target.createTarget {url:"file:///etc/passwd"}
+            // and then Runtime.evaluate the body off the created target,
+            // bypassing the page-domain check entirely.
+            if url_is_file_scheme(url) && !ctx.default_context.allow_file_access {
+                return Err(
+                    "Target.createTarget to file:// is disabled. Restart with `obscura serve --allow-file-access` to enable.".to_string()
+                );
+            }
+
             let page_id = ctx.create_page();
             let session_id = format!("{}-session", page_id);
 
diff --git a/crates/obscura-cdp/src/lib.rs b/crates/obscura-cdp/src/lib.rs
index ec4d90e..8a308cb 100644
--- a/crates/obscura-cdp/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/obscura-cdp/src/lib.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ pub mod server;
 pub mod dispatch;
 pub mod types;
 pub mod domains;
+pub(crate) mod util;
 
 pub use server::{
     start, start_with_full_options, start_with_host, start_with_host_and_security,
diff --git a/crates/obscura-cdp/src/util.rs b/crates/obscura-cdp/src/util.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10d940e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/obscura-cdp/src/util.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+/// Helpers shared across CDP domain handlers.
+///
+/// The file-scheme detector here is reused by every CDP entrypoint that can
+/// trigger a navigation, so we don't end up with one domain enforcing the
+/// `--allow-file-access` gate and another silently letting `file://` through
+/// (see GHSA-q55h-vfv9-qcr5 and its incomplete-fix variant in
+/// `Target.createTarget`).
+
+/// Returns true when `raw` parses as a `file:`-scheme URL, or syntactically
+/// starts with `file:` after a possible leading-whitespace strip. Matching is
+/// case-insensitive on the scheme so neither `FILE://` nor `File://` slips
+/// past callers that gate on `file://`.
+pub(crate) fn url_is_file_scheme(raw: &str) -> bool {
+    url::Url::parse(raw)
+        .map(|u| u.scheme().eq_ignore_ascii_case("file"))
+        .unwrap_or_else(|_| {
+            raw.trim_start().to_ascii_lowercase().starts_with("file:")
+        })
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn matches_plain_file_url() {
+        assert!(url_is_file_scheme("file:///etc/passwd"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn matches_case_insensitively() {
+        assert!(url_is_file_scheme("FILE:///etc/passwd"));
+        assert!(url_is_file_scheme("File:///etc/passwd"));
+        assert!(url_is_file_scheme("fIlE:///etc/passwd"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn matches_with_leading_whitespace_fallback() {
+        // url::Url::parse rejects leading whitespace, but the syntactic
+        // fallback still catches `   file:...` so callers can't be tricked
+        // into letting it through.
+        assert!(url_is_file_scheme("   file:///etc/passwd"));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn rejects_http_https_about_data() {
+        assert!(!url_is_file_scheme("http://example.com"));
+        assert!(!url_is_file_scheme("https://example.com"));
+        assert!(!url_is_file_scheme("about:blank"));
+        assert!(!url_is_file_scheme("data:text/plain,hi"));
+        assert!(!url_is_file_scheme(""));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn rejects_lookalikes_that_are_not_file_scheme() {
+        // The URL parser rejects these (no `://`), so the syntactic fallback
+        // kicks in. `file` appearing anywhere except as the leading scheme
+        // must not match.
+        assert!(!url_is_file_scheme("notfile:///x"));
+        assert!(!url_is_file_scheme("http://file/"));
+    }
+}