diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index f38eab53..05d3d0f1 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1688,8 +1688,9 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "base-client-cli"
 version = "0.0.0"
 dependencies = [
- "alloy-rpc-types-engine",
+ "base-jwt",
  "clap",
+ "eyre",
  "url",
 ]
 
diff --git a/crates/client/cli/Cargo.toml b/crates/client/cli/Cargo.toml
index 463d0954..b9da0c87 100644
--- a/crates/client/cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/client/cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,4 +15,7 @@ workspace = true
 # General
 url.workspace = true
 clap.workspace = true
-alloy-rpc-types-engine.workspace = true
+eyre.workspace = true
+
+# Base
+base-jwt = { workspace = true, features = ["engine-validation"] }
diff --git a/crates/client/cli/src/l2.rs b/crates/client/cli/src/l2.rs
index ed0198d8..201e374b 100644
--- a/crates/client/cli/src/l2.rs
+++ b/crates/client/cli/src/l2.rs
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
-use alloy_rpc_types_engine::JwtSecret;
+use base_jwt::{JwtError, JwtSecret, JwtValidator, resolve_jwt_secret};
 use url::Url;
 
 const DEFAULT_L2_ENGINE_TIMEOUT: u64 = 30_000;
@@ -51,3 +51,28 @@ impl Default for L2ClientArgs {
         }
     }
 }
+
+impl L2ClientArgs {
+    /// Returns the L2 JWT secret for the engine API.
+    ///
+    /// Resolution order:
+    /// 1. Read from file path if `l2_engine_jwt_secret` is set
+    /// 2. Use encoded secret if `l2_engine_jwt_encoded` is set
+    /// 3. Fall back to default JWT file `l2_jwt.hex`
+    pub fn jwt_secret(&self) -> Result<JwtSecret, JwtError> {
+        resolve_jwt_secret(
+            self.l2_engine_jwt_secret.as_deref(),
+            self.l2_engine_jwt_encoded,
+            "l2_jwt.hex",
+        )
+    }
+
+    /// Validate the jwt secret if specified by exchanging capabilities with the engine.
+    /// Since the engine client will fail if the jwt token is invalid, this allows to ensure
+    /// that the jwt token passed as a cli arg is correct.
+    pub async fn validate_jwt(&self) -> eyre::Result<JwtSecret> {
+        let jwt_secret = self.jwt_secret().map_err(|e| eyre::eyre!(e))?;
+        let validator = JwtValidator::new(jwt_secret);
+        validator.validate_with_engine(self.l2_engine_rpc.clone()).await.map_err(|e| eyre::eyre!(e))
+    }
+}
diff --git a/deny.toml b/deny.toml
index 144ac394..0352839e 100644
--- a/deny.toml
+++ b/deny.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,51 @@
+[advisories]
+# Ignore unmaintained/vulnerable crates that come from upstream dependencies we cannot control
+ignore = [
+    # rustls-pemfile is unmaintained but comes from bollard -> testcontainers (dev dependency)
+    # No safe upgrade available, waiting for upstream to migrate to rustls-pki-types
+    "RUSTSEC-2025-0134",
+
+    # tokio-tar has a PAX header vulnerability but comes from testcontainers (dev dependency)
+    # No safe upgrade available, tokio-tar is archived
+    "RUSTSEC-2025-0111",
+
+    # backoff is unmaintained but comes from rollup-boost -> kona-engine (upstream dependency)
+    # No safe upgrade available
+    "RUSTSEC-2025-0012",
+
+    # bincode is unmaintained but comes from reth-nippy-jar (upstream reth dependency)
+    # No safe upgrade available
+    "RUSTSEC-2025-0141",
+
+    # instant is unmaintained but comes from backoff -> rollup-boost (upstream dependency)
+    # No safe upgrade available
+    "RUSTSEC-2024-0384",
+
+    # paste is unmaintained but widely used in ecosystem (alloy, reth, etc.)
+    # No safe upgrade available
+    "RUSTSEC-2024-0436",
+]
+
+[licenses]
+allow = [
+    "MIT",
+    "Apache-2.0",
+    "Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception",
+    "BSD-2-Clause",
+    "BSD-3-Clause",
+    "ISC",
+    "Unicode-3.0",
+    "Unlicense",
+    "Zlib",
+    "CC0-1.0",
+    "MPL-2.0",
+    "0BSD",
+    "BSL-1.0",
+    "OpenSSL",
+    "CDLA-Permissive-2.0",
+]
+confidence-threshold = 0.8
+
 [bans]
 deny = ["reth"]
 multiple-versions = "deny"
@@ -61,7 +109,6 @@ skip = [
     "redox_users",
 
     # Network crates
-    "yamux",
     "tungstenite",
     "tokio-tungstenite",
 
@@ -75,7 +122,20 @@ skip = [
     "cargo_metadata",
     "core-foundation",
     "crossterm",
-    "if-addrs",
+    "gloo-timers",
+    "indexmap",
+    "kona-genesis",
+    "opentelemetry",
+    "opentelemetry-http",
+    "opentelemetry-otlp",
+    "opentelemetry-proto",
+    "opentelemetry_sdk",
+    "prost",
+    "prost-derive",
+    "rustc-hash",
+    "tonic",
+    "tower",
+    "tracing-opentelemetry",
     "openssl-probe",
     "procfs",
     "procfs-core",
@@ -84,6 +144,16 @@ skip = [
     "toml_datetime",
     "toml_edit",
     "unicode-width",
-    "unsigned-varint",
     "webpki-roots",
 ]
+
+[sources]
+unknown-registry = "deny"
+unknown-git = "deny"
+
+# Allow git sources from known upstream repositories
+allow-git = [
+    "https://github.com/paradigmxyz/reth",
+    "https://github.com/op-rs/kona",
+    "https://github.com/flashbots/rollup-boost.git",
+]