diff --git a/apps/desktop/electron/dashboard-token.cjs b/apps/desktop/electron/dashboard-token.cjs
index 12f1dd400d3..ed55f9dd52b 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/electron/dashboard-token.cjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/electron/dashboard-token.cjs
@@ -78,10 +78,32 @@ async function resolveServedDashboardToken(baseUrl, fallbackToken, options = {})
   return servedToken || fallbackToken
 }
 
+/**
+ * Decide whether a served-token mismatch means we are talking to a backend we
+ * did NOT spawn.
+ *
+ * The desktop pins HERMES_DASHBOARD_SESSION_TOKEN on every backend it spawns,
+ * and the dashboard honors that env at import — so a LIVE child of ours always
+ * serves our token. The only way the served token differs while our child is
+ * dead is that the readiness probe (public /api/status) answered from a
+ * different process: an orphaned dashboard or port squatter that won the bind
+ * race while our child exited. Adopting that process's token would silently
+ * authenticate the renderer against a foreign backend (possibly the wrong
+ * profile), so callers must fail loudly instead.
+ *
+ * A mismatch with a live child is the benign case the served-token fallback
+ * exists for: our own child served a regenerated token because the env pin
+ * did not survive the spawn (e.g. shell-wrapped CLI shims).
+ */
+function isForeignBackendToken({ servedToken, spawnToken, childAlive }) {
+  return Boolean(servedToken) && servedToken !== spawnToken && !childAlive
+}
+
 module.exports = {
   DEFAULT_TOKEN_FETCH_TIMEOUT_MS,
   dashboardIndexUrl,
   extractInjectedDashboardToken,
   fetchPublicText,
+  isForeignBackendToken,
   resolveServedDashboardToken
 }
diff --git a/apps/desktop/electron/dashboard-token.test.cjs b/apps/desktop/electron/dashboard-token.test.cjs
index 2a7e05c4fed..54e69f3997b 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/electron/dashboard-token.test.cjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/electron/dashboard-token.test.cjs
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ const {
   dashboardIndexUrl,
   extractInjectedDashboardToken,
   fetchPublicText,
+  isForeignBackendToken,
   resolveServedDashboardToken
 } = require('./dashboard-token.cjs')
 
@@ -87,3 +88,23 @@ test('resolveServedDashboardToken propagates fetch errors so callers can fall ba
 test('fetchPublicText rejects unsupported protocols', async () => {
   await assert.rejects(() => fetchPublicText('file:///tmp/index.html'), /Unsupported Hermes backend URL protocol/)
 })
+
+test('isForeignBackendToken flags a mismatched token from a dead child', () => {
+  assert.equal(isForeignBackendToken({ servedToken: 'other', spawnToken: 'mine', childAlive: false }), true)
+})
+
+test('isForeignBackendToken trusts a mismatched token while our child is alive', () => {
+  // Live child + different token = our own backend regenerated the token
+  // because the env pin did not survive the spawn. Adopting it is correct.
+  assert.equal(isForeignBackendToken({ servedToken: 'other', spawnToken: 'mine', childAlive: true }), false)
+})
+
+test('isForeignBackendToken trusts a matching token regardless of liveness', () => {
+  assert.equal(isForeignBackendToken({ servedToken: 'mine', spawnToken: 'mine', childAlive: false }), false)
+  assert.equal(isForeignBackendToken({ servedToken: 'mine', spawnToken: 'mine', childAlive: true }), false)
+})
+
+test('isForeignBackendToken ignores an absent served token', () => {
+  assert.equal(isForeignBackendToken({ servedToken: null, spawnToken: 'mine', childAlive: false }), false)
+  assert.equal(isForeignBackendToken({ servedToken: '', spawnToken: 'mine', childAlive: false }), false)
+})
diff --git a/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs b/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
index 2c6aa425cf2..4ab82a10e41 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/electron/main.cjs
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ const { runBootstrap } = require('./bootstrap-runner.cjs')
 const { buildSessionWindowUrl, createSessionWindowRegistry } = require('./session-windows.cjs')
 const { canImportHermesCli, verifyHermesCli } = require('./backend-probes.cjs')
 const { probeGatewayWebSocket } = require('./gateway-ws-probe.cjs')
-const { resolveServedDashboardToken } = require('./dashboard-token.cjs')
+const { isForeignBackendToken, resolveServedDashboardToken } = require('./dashboard-token.cjs')
 const { serializeJsonBody, setJsonRequestHeaders } = require('./oauth-net-request.cjs')
 const { fetchMarketplaceThemes, searchMarketplaceThemes } = require('./vscode-marketplace.cjs')
 const { readDirForIpc } = require('./fs-read-dir.cjs')
@@ -4599,6 +4599,21 @@ async function spawnPoolBackend(profile, entry) {
     rememberLog(`[boot] could not read served dashboard token for profile "${profile}": ${error.message}`)
     return token
   })
+  if (
+    isForeignBackendToken({
+      servedToken: authToken,
+      spawnToken: token,
+      childAlive: child.exitCode === null && !child.killed
+    })
+  ) {
+    // Our child is dead and the port answers with someone else's token:
+    // /api/status readiness was a false positive from a process we did not
+    // spawn. Fail loudly rather than authenticate against a foreign backend.
+    backendPool.delete(profile)
+    throw new Error(
+      `Hermes backend for profile "${profile}" exited and port ${port} is served by a different process; refusing its session token.`
+    )
+  }
   entry.token = authToken
 
   return {
@@ -4831,6 +4846,20 @@ async function startHermes() {
       rememberLog(`[boot] could not read served dashboard token: ${error.message}`)
       return token
     })
+    if (
+      isForeignBackendToken({
+        servedToken: authToken,
+        spawnToken: token,
+        childAlive: hermesProcess.exitCode === null && !hermesProcess.killed
+      })
+    ) {
+      // Our child is dead and the port answers with someone else's token:
+      // /api/status readiness was a false positive from a process we did not
+      // spawn. Fail loudly rather than authenticate against a foreign backend.
+      throw new Error(
+        `Hermes backend exited and port ${port} is served by a different process; refusing its session token.`
+      )
+    }
     updateBootProgress({
       phase: 'backend.ready',
       message: 'Hermes backend is ready. Finalizing desktop startup',