diff --git a/backend/open_webui/retrieval/web/utils.py b/backend/open_webui/retrieval/web/utils.py
index f5c89b4b58..74c4a734da 100644
--- a/backend/open_webui/retrieval/web/utils.py
+++ b/backend/open_webui/retrieval/web/utils.py
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ from typing import (
     Union,
     Literal,
 )
+
+from fastapi.concurrency import run_in_threadpool
 import aiohttp
 import certifi
 import validators
@@ -142,13 +144,13 @@ class RateLimitMixin:
 
 
 class URLProcessingMixin:
-    def _verify_ssl_cert(self, url: str) -> bool:
+    async def _verify_ssl_cert(self, url: str) -> bool:
         """Verify SSL certificate for a URL."""
-        return verify_ssl_cert(url)
+        return await run_in_threadpool(verify_ssl_cert, url)
 
     async def _safe_process_url(self, url: str) -> bool:
         """Perform safety checks before processing a URL."""
-        if self.verify_ssl and not self._verify_ssl_cert(url):
+        if self.verify_ssl and not await self._verify_ssl_cert(url):
             raise ValueError(f"SSL certificate verification failed for {url}")
         await self._wait_for_rate_limit()
         return True