diff --git a/litellm/proxy/guardrails/guardrail_hooks/prompt_security/prompt_security.py b/litellm/proxy/guardrails/guardrail_hooks/prompt_security/prompt_security.py
index 2a02560f6cc..6f75c74405c 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/guardrails/guardrail_hooks/prompt_security/prompt_security.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/guardrails/guardrail_hooks/prompt_security/prompt_security.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING:
 
 
 _SANITIZE_FILE_FAIL_OPEN_TIMEOUT_SECONDS: Final = 30.0
+_SANITIZE_FILE_QUEUED_STATUSES: Final = frozenset({"created", "in progress"})
 
 
 class PromptSecurityGuardrailMissingSecrets(Exception):
@@ -513,6 +514,9 @@ class PromptSecurityGuardrail(CustomGuardrail):
                     "violations": result.get("metadata", {}).get("violations", []),
                 }
 
+            if status not in _SANITIZE_FILE_QUEUED_STATUSES:
+                raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail=f"Unexpected sanitization status: {status}")
+
             verbose_proxy_logger.debug(
                 "Prompt Security Guardrail: File sanitization status=%s for jobId=%s (attempt %d/%d)",
                 status,
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/guardrails/test_prompt_security_guardrails.py b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/guardrails/test_prompt_security_guardrails.py
index 2e44b4b91b8..ee12bc4d223 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/proxy/guardrails/test_prompt_security_guardrails.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/proxy/guardrails/test_prompt_security_guardrails.py
@@ -560,6 +560,35 @@ async def test_file_sanitization_never_finishing_job_times_out(monkeypatch: pyte
     assert exc_info.value.detail == "File sanitization timeout"
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("poll_body", [{"status": "failed"}, {}])
+async def test_file_sanitization_terminal_failure_does_not_fail_open(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, poll_body):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("PROMPT_SECURITY_API_KEY", "test-key")
+    monkeypatch.setenv("PROMPT_SECURITY_API_BASE", "https://test.prompt.security")
+
+    guardrail = PromptSecurityGuardrail(guardrail_name="test-guard", event_hook="pre_call", default_on=True)
+    guardrail.poll_interval = 0
+    upload_response = Response(
+        json={"jobId": "failed-job"},
+        status_code=200,
+        request=Request(method="POST", url="https://test.prompt.security/api/sanitizeFile"),
+    )
+    poll_response = Response(
+        json=poll_body,
+        status_code=200,
+        request=Request(method="GET", url="https://test.prompt.security/api/sanitizeFile"),
+    )
+
+    with patch.object(guardrail.async_handler, "post", AsyncMock(return_value=upload_response)):
+        with patch.object(guardrail.async_handler, "get", AsyncMock(return_value=poll_response)) as poll_mock:
+            with pytest.raises(HTTPException) as exc_info:
+                await guardrail.sanitize_file_content(b"file-content", "document.pdf")
+
+    assert poll_mock.await_count == 1
+    assert exc_info.value.status_code == 500
+    assert exc_info.value.detail == f"Unexpected sanitization status: {poll_body.get('status')}"
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "timeout",