diff --git a/server/routes.go b/server/routes.go
index b19a40fbc..977a13ff2 100644
--- a/server/routes.go
+++ b/server/routes.go
@@ -752,9 +752,15 @@ func (s *Server) EmbedHandler(c *gin.Context) {
 				return err
 			}
 			// TODO: this first normalization should be done by the model
-			embedding = normalize(embedding)
+			embedding, err = normalize(embedding)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
 			if req.Dimensions > 0 && req.Dimensions < len(embedding) {
-				embedding = normalize(embedding[:req.Dimensions])
+				embedding, err = normalize(embedding[:req.Dimensions])
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
 			}
 			embeddings[i] = embedding
 			atomic.AddUint64(&totalTokens, uint64(tokenCount))
@@ -787,9 +793,12 @@ func (s *Server) EmbedHandler(c *gin.Context) {
 	c.JSON(http.StatusOK, resp)
 }
 
-func normalize(vec []float32) []float32 {
+func normalize(vec []float32) ([]float32, error) {
 	var sum float32
 	for _, v := range vec {
+		if math.IsNaN(float64(v)) || math.IsInf(float64(v), 0) {
+			return nil, errors.New("embedding contains NaN or Inf values")
+		}
 		sum += v * v
 	}
 
@@ -797,7 +806,7 @@ func normalize(vec []float32) []float32 {
 	for i := range vec {
 		vec[i] *= norm
 	}
-	return vec
+	return vec, nil
 }
 
 func (s *Server) EmbeddingsHandler(c *gin.Context) {
@@ -2395,4 +2404,3 @@ func filterThinkTags(msgs []api.Message, m *Model) []api.Message {
 	}
 	return msgs
 }
-
diff --git a/server/routes_test.go b/server/routes_test.go
index 39d4f290d..e470b9384 100644
--- a/server/routes_test.go
+++ b/server/routes_test.go
@@ -723,15 +723,20 @@ func TestShow(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestNormalize(t *testing.T) {
 	type testCase struct {
-		input []float32
+		input       []float32
+		expectError bool
 	}
 
 	testCases := []testCase{
-		{input: []float32{1}},
-		{input: []float32{0, 1, 2, 3}},
-		{input: []float32{0.1, 0.2, 0.3}},
-		{input: []float32{-0.1, 0.2, 0.3, -0.4}},
-		{input: []float32{0, 0, 0}},
+		{input: []float32{1}, expectError: false},
+		{input: []float32{0, 1, 2, 3}, expectError: false},
+		{input: []float32{0.1, 0.2, 0.3}, expectError: false},
+		{input: []float32{-0.1, 0.2, 0.3, -0.4}, expectError: false},
+		{input: []float32{0, 0, 0}, expectError: false},
+		{input: []float32{float32(math.NaN()), 0.2, 0.3}, expectError: true},
+		{input: []float32{0.1, float32(math.NaN()), 0.3}, expectError: true},
+		{input: []float32{float32(math.Inf(1)), 0.2, 0.3}, expectError: true},
+		{input: []float32{float32(math.Inf(-1)), 0.2, 0.3}, expectError: true},
 	}
 
 	isNormalized := func(vec []float32) (res bool) {
@@ -748,9 +753,18 @@ func TestNormalize(t *testing.T) {
 
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
 		t.Run("", func(t *testing.T) {
-			normalized := normalize(tc.input)
-			if !isNormalized(normalized) {
-				t.Errorf("Vector %v is not normalized", tc.input)
+			normalized, err := normalize(tc.input)
+			if tc.expectError {
+				if err == nil {
+					t.Errorf("Expected error for input %v, but got none", tc.input)
+				}
+			} else {
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Errorf("Unexpected error for input %v: %v", tc.input, err)
+				}
+				if !isNormalized(normalized) {
+					t.Errorf("Vector %v is not normalized", tc.input)
+				}
 			}
 		})
 	}