diff --git a/r2/r2/lib/base.py b/r2/r2/lib/base.py
index 514044b0e..4cca80c8d 100644
--- a/r2/r2/lib/base.py
+++ b/r2/r2/lib/base.py
@@ -176,8 +176,8 @@ class BaseController(WSGIController):
 
         # unparse and encode it un utf8
         rv = _force_unicode(u.unparse()).encode('utf8')
-        if any(ch.isspace() for ch in rv):
-            raise ValueError("Space characters in redirect URL: [%r]" % rv)
+        if "\n" in rv or "\r" in rv:
+            abort(400)
         return rv