diff --git a/backend/danswer/connectors/confluence/rate_limit_handler.py b/backend/danswer/connectors/confluence/rate_limit_handler.py
index 8755b78f3f46..1af2a193f6cf 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/connectors/confluence/rate_limit_handler.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/connectors/confluence/rate_limit_handler.py
@@ -32,17 +32,24 @@ def make_confluence_call_handle_rate_limit(confluence_call: F) -> F:
             try:
                 return confluence_call(*args, **kwargs)
             except HTTPError as e:
+                # Check if the response or headers are None to avoid potential AttributeError
+                if e.response is None or e.response.headers is None:
+                    logger.warning("HTTPError with `None` as response or as headers")
+                    raise e
+
+                retry_after_header = e.response.headers.get("Retry-After")
                 if (
                     e.response.status_code == 429
                     or RATE_LIMIT_MESSAGE_LOWERCASE in e.response.text.lower()
                 ):
                     retry_after = None
-                    try:
-                        retry_after = int(e.response.headers.get("Retry-After"))
-                    except (ValueError, TypeError):
-                        pass
+                    if retry_after_header is not None:
+                        try:
+                            retry_after = int(retry_after_header)
+                        except ValueError:
+                            pass
 
-                    if retry_after:
+                    if retry_after is not None:
                         logger.warning(
                             f"Rate limit hit. Retrying after {retry_after} seconds..."
                         )
diff --git a/backend/danswer/connectors/web/connector.py b/backend/danswer/connectors/web/connector.py
index a98d4dcf84af..db346fd8b8d1 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/connectors/web/connector.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/connectors/web/connector.py
@@ -85,7 +85,8 @@ def check_internet_connection(url: str) -> None:
         response = requests.get(url, timeout=3)
         response.raise_for_status()
     except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
-        status_code = e.response.status_code
+        # Extract status code from the response, defaulting to -1 if response is None
+        status_code = e.response.status_code if e.response is not None else -1
         error_msg = {
             400: "Bad Request",
             401: "Unauthorized",
diff --git a/backend/danswer/db/auth.py b/backend/danswer/db/auth.py
index 161fdc8f10b2..6d150b106cbe 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/db/auth.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/db/auth.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ def get_default_admin_user_emails() -> list[str]:
     get_default_admin_user_emails_fn: Callable[
         [], list[str]
     ] = fetch_versioned_implementation_with_fallback(
-        "danswer.auth.users", "get_default_admin_user_emails_", lambda: []
+        "danswer.auth.users", "get_default_admin_user_emails_", lambda: list[str]()
     )
     return get_default_admin_user_emails_fn()
 
diff --git a/backend/danswer/file_store/utils.py b/backend/danswer/file_store/utils.py
index 4b849f70d966..b71d20bbbb43 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/file_store/utils.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/file_store/utils.py
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
+from collections.abc import Callable
 from io import BytesIO
+from typing import Any
 from typing import cast
 from uuid import uuid4
 
@@ -73,5 +75,7 @@ def save_file_from_url(url: str) -> str:
 
 
 def save_files_from_urls(urls: list[str]) -> list[str]:
-    funcs = [(save_file_from_url, (url,)) for url in urls]
+    funcs: list[tuple[Callable[..., Any], tuple[Any, ...]]] = [
+        (save_file_from_url, (url,)) for url in urls
+    ]
     return run_functions_tuples_in_parallel(funcs)
diff --git a/backend/danswer/search/postprocessing/postprocessing.py b/backend/danswer/search/postprocessing/postprocessing.py
index 6a3d2dc2dcd2..033bdf36e008 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/search/postprocessing/postprocessing.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/search/postprocessing/postprocessing.py
@@ -253,8 +253,8 @@ def search_postprocessing(
 
     if not retrieved_sections:
         # Avoids trying to rerank an empty list which throws an error
-        yield []
-        yield []
+        yield cast(list[InferenceSection], [])
+        yield cast(list[SectionRelevancePiece], [])
         return
 
     rerank_task_id = None
diff --git a/backend/danswer/tools/tool_runner.py b/backend/danswer/tools/tool_runner.py
index f962c214a034..58b94bdb0c89 100644
--- a/backend/danswer/tools/tool_runner.py
+++ b/backend/danswer/tools/tool_runner.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+from collections.abc import Callable
 from collections.abc import Generator
 from typing import Any
 
@@ -47,7 +48,7 @@ class ToolRunner:
 def check_which_tools_should_run_for_non_tool_calling_llm(
     tools: list[Tool], query: str, history: list[PreviousMessage], llm: LLM
 ) -> list[dict[str, Any] | None]:
-    tool_args_list = [
+    tool_args_list: list[tuple[Callable[..., Any], tuple[Any, ...]]] = [
         (tool.get_args_for_non_tool_calling_llm, (query, history, llm))
         for tool in tools
     ]