diff --git a/hermes_cli/config.py b/hermes_cli/config.py
index fb408026867..53c88c69332 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/config.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/config.py
@@ -6523,7 +6523,7 @@ def require_readable_config_before_write(config_path: Optional[Path] = None) ->
         ) from exc
 
 
-def atomic_config_write(config_path: "Path", data: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
+def atomic_config_write(config_path: Path, data: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> None:
     """Fail-closed atomic write for ``config.yaml``.
 
     The single chokepoint every config-update path should use instead of
diff --git a/hermes_cli/xai_retirement.py b/hermes_cli/xai_retirement.py
index 02ad903f7b3..0dc8a45c6f7 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/xai_retirement.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/xai_retirement.py
@@ -242,6 +242,9 @@ def apply_migration(
         )
         shutil.copy2(config_path, backup_path)
 
+    from hermes_cli.config import require_readable_config_before_write
+
+    require_readable_config_before_write(config_path)
     with config_path.open("w", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
         yaml.dump(doc, fh)
 
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_migrate_xai.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_migrate_xai.py
index 8a913e98bf2..32162b2064e 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_migrate_xai.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_migrate_xai.py
@@ -221,3 +221,30 @@ class TestIdempotence:
         assert issues_2 == []
         result_2 = apply_migration(trap_config, issues_2)
         assert result_2.config_changed is False
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Fail-closed on unreadable existing config
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+class TestUnreadableExistingConfig:
+    def test_apply_refuses_to_overwrite_unreadable_config(self, trap_config: Path):
+        """apply_migration must not clobber an existing config.yaml it can't
+        read. It reads the file first (which raises on an unreadable file), and
+        the require_readable_config_before_write guard before the write is a
+        belt-and-suspenders backstop for the read-then-write window. Either way
+        the original bytes must survive."""
+        import os
+
+        issues = find_retired_xai_refs(_parse(trap_config))
+        assert issues  # sanity: trap_config has retired refs
+        original = trap_config.read_bytes()
+
+        os.chmod(trap_config, 0o000)
+        try:
+            with pytest.raises((PermissionError, RuntimeError, OSError)):
+                apply_migration(trap_config, issues, backup=False)
+        finally:
+            os.chmod(trap_config, 0o644)
+
+        assert trap_config.read_bytes() == original