diff --git a/tests/tools/test_hardline_blocklist.py b/tests/tools/test_hardline_blocklist.py
index 29138c836a4..669c867dc56 100644
--- a/tests/tools/test_hardline_blocklist.py
+++ b/tests/tools/test_hardline_blocklist.py
@@ -200,6 +200,54 @@ def test_quoted_and_brace_paths_are_hardline_blocked(command):
     assert desc
 
 
+# Commands that carry the literal string "rm -rf /" (or a sibling) as DATA in
+# another command's quoted argument — a PR title, a commit message, an echo /
+# printf argument. The shell never executes that text as an rm command, so the
+# hardline floor must NOT fire; otherwise the command cannot run at all (this
+# blocked `gh pr create --title "…rm -rf /…"` outright). Regression guard for
+# the command-position anchor on the rm rules.
+_DATA_ARG_NOT_A_COMMAND = [
+    'gh pr create --title "block rm -rf / spellings"',
+    'git commit -m "fixes rm -rf / bypass"',
+    'echo "run rm -rf / now"',
+    'echo "rm -rf /"',
+    'printf "%s" "rm -rf /"',
+    'gh issue comment 1 --body "the fix blocks rm -rf //"',
+]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("command", _DATA_ARG_NOT_A_COMMAND)
+def test_root_wipe_string_as_data_arg_is_not_hardline(command):
+    """"rm -rf /" as a quoted argument to another command is data, not a wipe."""
+    is_hl, desc = detect_hardline_command(command)
+    assert not is_hl, f"false positive: quoted data arg hit hardline floor: {command!r} ({desc})"
+
+
+# Real root wipes at every command position — bare, chained after a separator,
+# inside a command substitution ($()/backtick), or after sudo/env wrappers.
+# The command-position anchor must keep catching all of these; the substitution
+# forms exercise the shell-metacharacter terminator on the bare path branch.
+_COMMAND_POSITION_ROOT_WIPES = [
+    "rm -rf /",
+    "ls && rm -rf /",
+    "ls; rm -rf /",
+    "echo x | rm -rf /",
+    "sudo rm -rf /",
+    "env X=1 rm -rf /",
+    "$(rm -rf /)",
+    "`rm -rf /`",
+    'echo "$(rm -rf /)"',
+]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("command", _COMMAND_POSITION_ROOT_WIPES)
+def test_root_wipe_at_command_position_is_hardline(command):
+    """A real `rm -rf /` at any command position stays hardline-blocked."""
+    is_hl, desc = detect_hardline_command(command)
+    assert is_hl, f"real root wipe leaked past the floor: {command!r}"
+    assert desc
+
+
 # -------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Shell line-continuation bypass
 # -------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/tools/approval.py b/tools/approval.py
index 6bdae8f2dbf..8cb2faf218d 100644
--- a/tools/approval.py
+++ b/tools/approval.py
@@ -332,12 +332,12 @@ _CMDPOS = (
 # `rm -rf "/"` slip past the unconditional floor entirely.
 #
 # Accept the path either fully wrapped in a matching quote pair OR bare with
-# a whitespace/end terminator. The matching-quote requirement is deliberate:
-# it catches `rm -rf "/"` (path quoted on its own) while NOT firing on a
-# dangerous-looking string that is merely an argument to another command —
-# e.g. `git commit -m "rm -rf /"` — where the closing quote follows the path
-# but no opening quote precedes it, so neither branch applies.
-def _hardline_rm_path(path_alt: str, tail: str = r'(?:\s|$)') -> str:
+# a terminator. The matching-quote branch catches `rm -rf "/"` (path quoted
+# on its own). The bare branch's terminator accepts whitespace, end-of-string
+# OR a shell metacharacter (`) ` ; | &`) so a real root wipe inside a command
+# substitution — `$(rm -rf /)`, `` `rm -rf /` `` — whose `/` is terminated by
+# `)`/backtick is still caught.
+def _hardline_rm_path(path_alt: str, tail: str = r'(?:\s|$|[)`;|&])') -> str:
     return rf'(?:["\'](?:{path_alt})["\']|(?:{path_alt}){tail})'
 
 
@@ -350,7 +350,17 @@ _HARDLINE_SYSTEM_DIRS = (
 # `rm` plus its flag group, shared by the three rm hardline rules. Kept as a
 # plain concatenation (not an f-string) so the regex backslashes never live
 # inside an f-string replacement field — unsupported on the Python 3.11 floor.
-_RM_FLAG_PREFIX = r'\brm\s+(-[^\s]*\s+)*'
+#
+# Anchored to _CMDPOS (start of line, after a command separator ; && || |,
+# after a subshell opener $(/backtick, or after sudo/env/exec wrappers) so the
+# rule fires only when `rm` is an actual command word — not when the literal
+# string "rm -rf /" appears as DATA inside another command's argument, e.g.
+# `gh pr create --title "block rm -rf / spellings"` or `git commit -m "…rm -rf
+# /…"`. Those tripped the unconditional floor and could not run at all before
+# the anchor. A real wipe at any command position (bare, chained, in $()/`…`,
+# under sudo) still matches; the quoted-path branch in _hardline_rm_path keeps
+# catching `rm -rf "/"`.
+_RM_FLAG_PREFIX = _CMDPOS + r'rm\s+(-[^\s]*\s+)*'
 
 HARDLINE_PATTERNS = [
     # rm recursive targeting the root filesystem or protected roots.