diff --git a/src/service/rooms/event_handler/fetch_auth.rs b/src/service/rooms/event_handler/fetch_auth.rs
index 6e8bab3f3..8a905378f 100644
--- a/src/service/rooms/event_handler/fetch_auth.rs
+++ b/src/service/rooms/event_handler/fetch_auth.rs
@@ -127,6 +127,11 @@ async fn authorise_remote_auth_chain<Pdu>(
 				continue;
 			}
 
+			// IMPORTANT: We can't use the handy dandy `handle_outlier_pdu` function here
+			// because it may then try to fetch missing auth events, resulting in deep
+			// recursion. We will do the minimum required steps to validate the PDU here
+			// (steps 1 through 4).
+
 			let mut auth_events_by_key: HashMap<_, _> =
 				HashMap::with_capacity(pdu.auth_events.len());
 
diff --git a/src/service/rooms/event_handler/fetch_prev.rs b/src/service/rooms/event_handler/fetch_prev.rs
index 6e4f8559a..3f7e845f6 100644
--- a/src/service/rooms/event_handler/fetch_prev.rs
+++ b/src/service/rooms/event_handler/fetch_prev.rs
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 impl super::Service {
 	/// Fetches any missing prev_events for this event and persists them before
-	/// returning.
+	/// returning. The caller is responsible for then handling the incoming PDU.
 	pub(super) async fn fetch_prevs(
 		&self,
 		room_id: &RoomId,
diff --git a/src/service/rooms/event_handler/handle_outlier_pdu.rs b/src/service/rooms/event_handler/handle_outlier_pdu.rs
index 94f188dac..0104d4b6b 100644
--- a/src/service/rooms/event_handler/handle_outlier_pdu.rs
+++ b/src/service/rooms/event_handler/handle_outlier_pdu.rs
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ pub(super) async fn handle_outlier_pdu<'a, Pdu>(
 
 		// 1. Check that the PDU follows the format for the room version
 		// (in this case, just size check)
-		if !pdu_fits(&value) {
+		if !Self::pdu_format_check_1(&value) {
 			warn!(
 				"dropping incoming PDU {event_id} in room {room_id} from {origin} because it \
 				 exceeds 65535 bytes or is otherwise too large."
@@ -63,24 +63,9 @@ pub(super) async fn handle_outlier_pdu<'a, Pdu>(
 
 		// 2. Check signatures, otherwise drop.
 		// 3. Check content hash, redacting the event if it fails.
-		let mut incoming_pdu = match self
-			.services
-			.server_keys
-			.verify_event(&value, &room_version_rules)
-			.await
-		{
-			| Ok(ruma::signatures::Verified::All) => value,
-			| Ok(ruma::signatures::Verified::Signatures) => {
-				debug_info!("Content hash mismatch, redacting event and continuing");
-				redact(value, &room_version_rules.redaction, None)
-					.map_err(|e| err!(Request(BadJson("Unable to redact {event_id}: {e}"))))?
-			},
-			| Err(e) => {
-				return Err!(Request(Forbidden(debug_error!(
-					"Signature verification failed for {event_id}: {e}"
-				))));
-			},
-		};
+		let mut incoming_pdu = self
+			.signature_hash_check_2_3(value, &room_version_rules)
+			.await?;
 
 		// Now that we have checked the signature and hashes we can add the eventID and
 		// convert to our PduEvent type
diff --git a/src/service/rooms/event_handler/pdu_checks.rs b/src/service/rooms/event_handler/pdu_checks.rs
index 3819ee309..da96c1295 100644
--- a/src/service/rooms/event_handler/pdu_checks.rs
+++ b/src/service/rooms/event_handler/pdu_checks.rs
@@ -1,16 +1,55 @@
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 
 use conduwuit::{
-	Err, Event, EventTypeExt, PduEvent, Result, debug, debug::DebugInspect, debug_error, err,
-	info, matrix::StateKey, state_res, trace,
+	Err, Event, EventTypeExt, PduEvent, Result, debug, debug::DebugInspect, debug_error,
+	debug_info, err, info, matrix::StateKey, state_res, trace, warn,
 };
 use futures::future::ready;
 use ruma::{
-	CanonicalJsonObject, OwnedEventId, ServerName, api::error::ErrorKind, events::StateEventType,
-	room_version_rules::RoomVersionRules,
+	CanonicalJsonObject, OwnedEventId, ServerName, api::error::ErrorKind, canonical_json::redact,
+	events::StateEventType, room_version_rules::RoomVersionRules,
 };
 
+use crate::rooms::timeline::pdu_fits;
+
 impl super::Service {
+	/// Checks that the PDU conforms to the PDU format (check 1). This is
+	/// already mostly done during deserialisation, so this function just checks
+	/// that the PDU isn't a too large.
+	pub(super) fn pdu_format_check_1(pdu_json: &CanonicalJsonObject) -> bool {
+		// NOTE: if we do any more validation outside of deserialisation, it has to be
+		// done here.
+		pdu_fits(pdu_json)
+	}
+
+	/// Checks that the PDU has a valid signature (check 2), and redacts it if
+	/// the content hash verification fails (check 3), returning the
+	/// potentially modified JSON. Returns an error if the PDU cannot be
+	/// redacted, or fails signature verification.
+	pub(super) async fn signature_hash_check_2_3(
+		&self,
+		pdu_json: CanonicalJsonObject,
+		room_version_rules: &RoomVersionRules,
+	) -> Result<CanonicalJsonObject> {
+		match self
+			.services
+			.server_keys
+			.verify_event(&pdu_json, &room_version_rules)
+			.await
+		{
+			| Ok(ruma::signatures::Verified::All) => Ok(pdu_json),
+			| Ok(ruma::signatures::Verified::Signatures) => {
+				debug_info!("Content hash mismatch, redacting event and continuing");
+				let redacted = redact(pdu_json, &room_version_rules.redaction, None)
+					.map_err(|e| err!(Request(BadJson("Unable to redact event: {e}"))))?;
+				Ok(redacted)
+			},
+			| Err(e) => {
+				Err!(Request(Forbidden(debug_error!("Signature verification failed: {e}"))))
+			},
+		}
+	}
+
 	/// Checks PDU check 4: Passes authorisation rules based on the event's auth
 	/// events ([spec]).
 	///