diff --git a/src/InboxIntel.Api/Controllers/SearchController.cs b/src/InboxIntel.Api/Controllers/SearchController.cs
index 5b37d57..6716518 100644
--- a/src/InboxIntel.Api/Controllers/SearchController.cs
+++ b/src/InboxIntel.Api/Controllers/SearchController.cs
@@ -7,19 +7,31 @@ namespace InboxIntel.Api.Controllers;
 
 public class SearchController : ApiControllerBase
 {
+    /// <summary>Hard upper bound on a user-requested page (V-10: DoS via huge pageSize).
+    /// Enforced HERE, at the user-facing trust boundary, so internal callers of
+    /// ISearchService (e.g. cleanup target resolution) can still request large pages.</summary>
+    private const int MaxPageSize = 200;
+
     private readonly ISearchService _search;
     public SearchController(ISearchService search) => _search = search;
 
     /// <summary>Structured search via JSON body.</summary>
     [HttpPost]
     public async Task<IActionResult> Search([FromBody] SearchRequestDto request, CancellationToken ct)
-        => Ok(await _search.SearchAsync(UserId, request, ct));
+    {
+        var clamped = request with
+        {
+            Page = Math.Max(1, request.Page),
+            PageSize = Math.Clamp(request.PageSize, 1, MaxPageSize)
+        };
+        return Ok(await _search.SearchAsync(UserId, clamped, ct));
+    }
 
     /// <summary>Gmail-like query string search, e.g. ?q=from:github.com is:unread.</summary>
     [HttpGet]
     public async Task<IActionResult> Query([FromQuery] string? q, [FromQuery] int page = 1, [FromQuery] int pageSize = 50, CancellationToken ct = default)
     {
-        var parsed = GmailQueryParser.Parse(q, page, pageSize);
+        var parsed = GmailQueryParser.Parse(q, Math.Max(1, page), Math.Clamp(pageSize, 1, MaxPageSize));
         return Ok(await _search.SearchAsync(UserId, parsed, ct));
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/InboxIntel.Infrastructure/Search/SearchService.cs b/src/InboxIntel.Infrastructure/Search/SearchService.cs
index 79b9e91..ef3b0b4 100644
--- a/src/InboxIntel.Infrastructure/Search/SearchService.cs
+++ b/src/InboxIntel.Infrastructure/Search/SearchService.cs
@@ -17,17 +17,11 @@ public class SearchService : ISearchService
     private readonly AppDbContext _db;
     public SearchService(AppDbContext db) => _db = db;
 
-    /// <summary>Hard upper bound on a user-facing page of results (V-10: DoS via huge pageSize).</summary>
-    public const int MaxPageSize = 200;
-
     public async Task<PagedResult<EmailSummaryDto>> SearchAsync(Guid userId, SearchRequestDto r, CancellationToken ct = default)
     {
-        // V-10: clamp pagination at the user-facing chokepoint (covers both the GET
-        // query-string path and the POST body path) so a caller cannot request an
-        // unbounded materialisation. Internal callers (e.g. cleanup target resolution)
-        // do not go through this service, so their larger pages are unaffected.
-        r = r with { Page = Math.Max(1, r.Page), PageSize = Math.Clamp(r.PageSize, 1, MaxPageSize) };
-
+        // NOTE: pagination is clamped at the user-facing trust boundary (SearchController),
+        // NOT here, so internal callers (e.g. CleanupService target resolution, which
+        // legitimately requests large pages) are unaffected. See V-10 fix.
         var q = _db.Emails.AsNoTracking().Where(e => e.UserId == userId);
 
         if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(r.Sender))
diff --git a/tests/InboxIntel.IntegrationTests/SearchPaginationTests.cs b/tests/InboxIntel.IntegrationTests/SearchPaginationTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee5294c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/InboxIntel.IntegrationTests/SearchPaginationTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+using FluentAssertions;
+using InboxIntel.Application.Abstractions;
+using InboxIntel.Application.Search;
+using InboxIntel.Domain.Entities;
+using InboxIntel.Infrastructure.Persistence;
+using InboxIntel.Infrastructure.Search;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+using Xunit;
+
+namespace InboxIntel.IntegrationTests;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Regression guard for the V-10 pagination clamp: the clamp must live at the
+/// user-facing controller boundary, NOT in SearchService — otherwise internal
+/// callers (CleanupService resolves targets with pageSize 10000) would be silently
+/// capped, breaking bulk cleanup-by-query. This proves the service itself honours a
+/// large page.
+/// </summary>
+public class SearchPaginationTests
+{
+    private sealed class FakeCurrentUser : ICurrentUser
+    {
+        public Guid UserId { get; set; }
+        public bool IsAuthenticated => UserId != Guid.Empty;
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task SearchService_does_not_clamp_large_internal_page()
+    {
+        var user = Guid.NewGuid();
+        var opts = new DbContextOptionsBuilder<AppDbContext>()
+            .UseInMemoryDatabase(nameof(SearchService_does_not_clamp_large_internal_page)).Options;
+
+        using (var seed = new AppDbContext(opts, new FakeCurrentUser()))
+        {
+            var sender = new Sender { UserId = user, Address = "sender@example.com", DisplayName = "Sender" };
+            seed.Senders.Add(sender);
+            for (var i = 0; i < 250; i++)
+                seed.Emails.Add(new Email { UserId = user, GmailMessageId = $"m{i}", Subject = $"s{i}", SenderId = sender.Id, Sender = sender });
+            await seed.SaveChangesAsync();
+        }
+
+        using var ctx = new AppDbContext(opts, new FakeCurrentUser { UserId = user });
+        // Mirrors how CleanupService resolves targets: a large page via the parser.
+        var request = GmailQueryParser.Parse(null, page: 1, pageSize: 10_000);
+        var result = await new SearchService(ctx).SearchAsync(user, request);
+
+        result.Items.Should().HaveCount(250);   // not capped at 200
+        result.TotalCount.Should().Be(250);
+    }
+}