diff --git a/src/lib/isURL.js b/src/lib/isURL.js
index 600a91dec..303e715c8 100644
--- a/src/lib/isURL.js
+++ b/src/lib/isURL.js
@@ -246,7 +246,11 @@ export default function isURL(url, options) {
   }
 
   if (options.host_whitelist) {
-    return checkHost(host, options.host_whitelist);
+    // `host` is '' for bracket-wrapped hosts like '[::1]'; the actual
+    // target lives in `ipv6`. Evaluate the whitelist against it too,
+    // otherwise whitelisted bracketed hosts are always rejected and an
+    // empty-matching whitelist regex accepts arbitrary bracketed hosts.
+    return checkHost(host || ipv6, options.host_whitelist);
   }
 
   if (host === '' && !options.require_host) {
diff --git a/test/validators.test.js b/test/validators.test.js
index 98d2a12ff..25a482cdd 100644
--- a/test/validators.test.js
+++ b/test/validators.test.js
@@ -879,6 +879,37 @@ describe('Validators', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it('should evaluate the host whitelist against bracketed IPv6 hosts', () => {
+    test({
+      validator: 'isURL',
+      args: [{
+        host_whitelist: ['::1', /^2001:/],
+      }],
+      valid: [
+        'http://[::1]',
+        'http://[::1]:8080',
+        'http://[2001:db8::1]/',
+      ],
+      invalid: [
+        'http://example.com',
+        'http://qux.com',
+      ],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('should not let an empty-matching whitelist regex accept bracketed garbage hosts', () => {
+    test({
+      validator: 'isURL',
+      args: [{
+        host_whitelist: [/^$/],
+      }],
+      valid: [],
+      invalid: [
+        'http://[not-an-ip]',
+      ],
+    });
+  });
+
   it('should let users specify a host blacklist', () => {
     test({
       validator: 'isURL',