diff --git a/scripts/maintainer-app-readiness.mjs b/scripts/maintainer-app-readiness.mjs
index 86c33ff7d..ba34dc169 100644
--- a/scripts/maintainer-app-readiness.mjs
+++ b/scripts/maintainer-app-readiness.mjs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
-import { appendFileSync, mkdirSync, readFileSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { appendFileSync, mkdirSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
 import { pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
 import {
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ import {
 import {
   readDelegatedGithubToken as readHardenedDelegatedGithubToken,
 } from "./lib/delegated-github-token.mjs";
+import {
+  assertAcquisitionPrivatePathParents,
+  writeAcquisitionPrivateFile,
+} from "./lib/acquisition-private-output.mjs";
 import { hasDuplicateJsonObjectKeys } from "./normalize-commercial-readiness-evidence.mjs";
 
 const MAX_ERROR_CHARS = 4_000;
@@ -271,8 +275,9 @@ function readJson(path, label) {
 
 function writeReport(path, report) {
   const absolutePath = resolve(path);
+  assertAcquisitionPrivatePathParents(absolutePath);
   mkdirSync(dirname(absolutePath), { recursive: true });
-  writeFileSync(absolutePath, `${JSON.stringify(report, null, 2)}\n`, "utf8");
+  writeAcquisitionPrivateFile(absolutePath, `${JSON.stringify(report, null, 2)}\n`);
   return absolutePath;
 }
 
diff --git a/test/maintainer-app-readiness-output-safety.test.ts b/test/maintainer-app-readiness-output-safety.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..833a87ca5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/maintainer-app-readiness-output-safety.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import {
+  existsSync,
+  mkdtempSync,
+  mkdirSync,
+  readFileSync,
+  rmSync,
+  symlinkSync,
+  writeFileSync,
+} from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { afterAll, afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { main } from "../scripts/maintainer-app-readiness.mjs";
+
+const originalEnvironment = { ...process.env };
+const originalExitCode = process.exitCode;
+const directories: string[] = [];
+
+function temporaryDirectory(): string {
+  const directory = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "noema-maintainer-output-safety-"));
+  directories.push(directory);
+  return directory;
+}
+
+function configureCollectionFailure(reportPath: string): void {
+  process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY = "ContextualWisdomLab/not-noema";
+  process.env.NOEMA_MAINTAINER_READINESS_PATH = reportPath;
+  delete process.env.GITHUB_OUTPUT;
+  delete process.env.GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY;
+}
+
+function restoreProcessState(): void {
+  for (const key of Object.keys(process.env)) {
+    if (!(key in originalEnvironment)) delete process.env[key];
+  }
+  Object.assign(process.env, originalEnvironment);
+  process.exitCode = originalExitCode;
+}
+
+afterEach(() => restoreProcessState());
+
+afterAll(() => {
+  restoreProcessState();
+  for (const directory of directories) rmSync(directory, { recursive: true, force: true });
+});
+
+describe("maintainer App readiness output path integrity", () => {
+  it("refuses a pre-existing symbolic-link report leaf without modifying its target", () => {
+    const directory = temporaryDirectory();
+    const targetPath = join(directory, "target.json");
+    const reportPath = join(directory, "report.json");
+    writeFileSync(targetPath, "sentinel\n", "utf8");
+    symlinkSync(targetPath, reportPath);
+    configureCollectionFailure(reportPath);
+
+    expect(() => main()).toThrow(/output path|symbolic link|regular file/i);
+    expect(readFileSync(targetPath, "utf8")).toBe("sentinel\n");
+  });
+
+  it("refuses a symbolic-link report parent without creating evidence through it", () => {
+    const directory = temporaryDirectory();
+    const realParent = join(directory, "real-parent");
+    const linkedParent = join(directory, "linked-parent");
+    const reportPath = join(linkedParent, "report.json");
+    mkdirSync(realParent);
+    symlinkSync(realParent, linkedParent, "dir");
+    configureCollectionFailure(reportPath);
+
+    expect(() => main()).toThrow(/output parent|symbolic link|real directory/i);
+    expect(existsSync(join(realParent, "report.json"))).toBe(false);
+  });
+});