diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/audience-anchor-set-claims.pin.test.ts b/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/audience-anchor-set-claims.pin.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4d2c4bd9aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/audience-anchor-set-claims.pin.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,217 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * [#6842] Prose may name a shipped permission set for a shape only if the set
+ * still HAS that shape.
+ *
+ * #5491 (PR #6684) removed `member_default`'s plain `'*'` wildcard grant. Three
+ * separate pieces of prose named that set as THE worked example of a plain
+ * wildcard, and all three went stale without a single gate moving — the
+ * `describeHighPrivilegeBits` JSDoc in `packages/spec` (#6696, fixed by PR
+ * #6846), and two `it()` titles in this package's `audience-anchors.test.ts`
+ * (#6842, fixed alongside this file). Nothing was red at any point, because
+ * nothing mechanically related "prose names set X as having shape Y" to what
+ * `defaultPermissionSets` actually ships. The drift is silent by construction.
+ *
+ * This pin supplies that relation, in the #6628 idiom
+ * (`packages/spec/src/identity/position-delegatable-enforcer.pin.test.ts`,
+ * "the JSDoc may name a lint rule only if that rule exists"). `plugin-security`
+ * is the only possible home: the authority is the `defaultPermissionSets` array
+ * itself, which `packages/spec` cannot import without inverting the dependency
+ * graph — which is exactly why #6696 deliberately shipped without a pin.
+ *
+ * HOW IT CLOSES. The authority is machine-read (the real array, the real
+ * predicates — never a transcription). The prose is machine-read too: shipped
+ * set names are exact snake_case tokens, so scanning for them needs no
+ * heuristics. What is hand-written is only the CLASSIFICATION — for each set the
+ * prose names, whether it is being invoked as a wildcard carrier, and whether it
+ * is claimed to stay anchor-bindable. Both directions of that table are closed:
+ *
+ *   - upward   — every shipped set name occurring in a watched surface MUST have
+ *                a row, so newly-named sets cannot slip in unclassified;
+ *   - downward — every row MUST be named in some watched surface, so rows cannot
+ *                outlive the prose that motivated them.
+ *
+ * Replay of the drift it exists for: before #5491 the prose named
+ * `member_default` as the wildcard carrier, so its row read `wildcard: true`.
+ * #5491 empties `objects['*']` and this file turns red, forcing that PR to flip
+ * the row — and to confront the three sentences that flip invalidates.
+ *
+ * ⛔ LIMIT, stated so it is not mistaken for more. This pins the classification
+ * against the array, not the prose against the classification: a row that
+ * MISDESCRIBES what its sentences claim is green. That hole cannot be closed
+ * without reading intent out of English, and the two negative mentions below
+ * show why a proximity heuristic would be worse than nothing — the spec JSDoc
+ * names `member_default` two lines from the word "wildcard" precisely to say it
+ * has none. What the pin buys is that a #5491-class change can no longer pass
+ * in silence: it must now write a false row on purpose.
+ *
+ * ⛔ Scope: the relation, not the wording. Rewording either surface freely is
+ * fine — including dropping a set name entirely, which just retires its row.
+ */
+
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { dirname, join, resolve } from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import { describeAnchorForbiddenBits } from '@objectstack/spec/security';
+
+import { defaultPermissionSets } from './objects/default-permission-sets.js';
+
+const HERE = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+/** …/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src → repo root */
+const REPO_ROOT = resolve(HERE, '../../../..');
+const SPEC_HIGH_PRIVILEGE = join(REPO_ROOT, 'packages', 'spec', 'src', 'security', 'high-privilege.ts');
+const ANCHOR_TESTS = join(HERE, 'audience-anchors.test.ts');
+
+/**
+ * What a watched surface claims about a set it names.
+ *
+ * `wildcard`  — the set carries a plain `objects['*']` grant.
+ * `anchorSafe` — the set may still be bound to the `everyone` anchor.
+ *
+ * Both are checked against the shipped array and the shipped predicate. There
+ * is deliberately NO "just mentioned, do not check" verdict: both watched
+ * surfaces are wholly about wildcard and anchor shapes, so for any set they
+ * name, both facts are worth holding — and an escape hatch is the one thing
+ * that would let this table be silenced instead of maintained.
+ */
+type SetClaim = { wildcard: boolean; anchorSafe: boolean };
+
+const CLAIMS: Record<string, SetClaim> = {
+  // Named by both surfaces for what it does NOT have: no wildcard since #5491,
+  // and no `allowExport`, which is why it keeps binding to `everyone`.
+  member_default: { wildcard: false, anchorSafe: true },
+  // Named by both surfaces as the shipped set that still carries a plain `'*'`.
+  // Its wildcard is read-only, so it is anchor-safe for `everyone` (D9's
+  // stricter guest tier refuses it — asserted in `audience-anchors.test.ts`).
+  viewer_readonly: { wildcard: true, anchorSafe: true },
+};
+
+/** Every permission-set name the platform actually ships. */
+function shippedSetNames(): string[] {
+  return defaultPermissionSets.map((s) => s.name);
+}
+
+/**
+ * The `describeHighPrivilegeBits` JSDoc block — the surface #6696 had to repair.
+ * Anchored on the declaration rather than on line numbers, which drift.
+ */
+function highPrivilegeDoc(): string {
+  const source = readFileSync(SPEC_HIGH_PRIVILEGE, 'utf8');
+  const decl = source.indexOf('export function describeHighPrivilegeBits');
+  expect(decl, '`describeHighPrivilegeBits` moved — re-anchor this pin').toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+  const open = source.lastIndexOf('/**', decl);
+  const close = source.indexOf('*/', open);
+  expect(open, 'no JSDoc block precedes `describeHighPrivilegeBits`').toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+  expect(close, 'unterminated JSDoc block').toBeLessThan(decl);
+  return source.slice(open, close + 2);
+}
+
+/** The prose surfaces this pin watches, by label. */
+function watchedSurfaces(): Record<string, string> {
+  return {
+    'packages/spec describeHighPrivilegeBits JSDoc': highPrivilegeDoc(),
+    'plugin-security audience-anchors.test.ts': readFileSync(ANCHOR_TESTS, 'utf8'),
+  };
+}
+
+/**
+ * Shipped set names occurring in `prose`, as exact tokens. The boundaries matter:
+ * `organization_admin` is a prefix of `organization_admin_no_bypass`, and only a
+ * non-word lookahead keeps the longer name from answering for the shorter one.
+ */
+function namedSets(prose: string, shipped: string[]): string[] {
+  return shipped.filter((name) => new RegExp(`(?<![\\w])${name}(?![\\w])`).test(prose));
+}
+
+/** Rows whose claim the shipped array/predicate does not back. */
+function unbackedClaims(claims: Record<string, SetClaim>): string[] {
+  const findings: string[] = [];
+  for (const [name, claim] of Object.entries(claims)) {
+    const set = defaultPermissionSets.find((s) => s.name === name);
+    if (!set) {
+      findings.push(`${name}: no such shipped set`);
+      continue;
+    }
+    const hasWildcard = (set.objects as Record<string, unknown> | undefined)?.['*'] !== undefined;
+    if (hasWildcard !== claim.wildcard) {
+      findings.push(`${name}: claimed wildcard=${claim.wildcard}, shipped wildcard=${hasWildcard}`);
+    }
+    const isAnchorSafe = describeAnchorForbiddenBits(set, 'everyone') === null;
+    if (isAnchorSafe !== claim.anchorSafe) {
+      findings.push(`${name}: claimed anchorSafe=${claim.anchorSafe}, shipped anchorSafe=${isAnchorSafe}`);
+    }
+  }
+  return findings;
+}
+
+/** Set names a surface mentions that the table does not classify. */
+function unclassifiedNames(prose: string, shipped: string[], claims: Record<string, SetClaim>): string[] {
+  return namedSets(prose, shipped).filter((n) => !(n in claims));
+}
+
+describe('prose names a permission set only for a shape it still has (#6842)', () => {
+  it('reads the real shipped array, not a transcription', () => {
+    const shipped = shippedSetNames();
+    // A floor, not an exact count — new default sets are expected. Its only job
+    // is to fail loudly if the import stops yielding sets, which would turn
+    // every check below vacuously green.
+    expect(shipped.length).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(6);
+    expect(shipped).toEqual(expect.arrayContaining(['member_default', 'viewer_readonly']));
+    // The #5491 fact this whole file exists for, read off the shipped array.
+    const member = defaultPermissionSets.find((s) => s.name === 'member_default')!;
+    expect((member.objects as Record<string, unknown>)['*']).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it('watches surfaces that actually name sets (anti-vacuity)', () => {
+    const shipped = shippedSetNames();
+    for (const [label, prose] of Object.entries(watchedSurfaces())) {
+      expect(prose.length, `${label}: extracted empty prose`).toBeGreaterThan(200);
+      expect(namedSets(prose, shipped), `${label}: names no shipped set`).not.toEqual([]);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('would reject a claim the shipped array does not back (self-test)', () => {
+    // The pre-#5491 table, verbatim in shape: the prose then named
+    // `member_default` as the wildcard carrier, so its row read `wildcard: true`.
+    // This is the row #5491 would have had to flip — and the reason it would
+    // have had to read the three sentences it invalidated.
+    expect(unbackedClaims({ member_default: { wildcard: true, anchorSafe: true } })).toEqual([
+      'member_default: claimed wildcard=true, shipped wildcard=false',
+    ]);
+    // A set name that no longer ships at all.
+    expect(unbackedClaims({ retired_set: { wildcard: false, anchorSafe: true } })).toEqual([
+      'retired_set: no such shipped set',
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it('would reject a named set the table does not classify (self-test)', () => {
+    // Without this direction, "no unclassified names" below could pass simply
+    // because a surface stopped naming sets.
+    const synthetic = "it('admin_full_access is the wildcard example', () => {});";
+    expect(unclassifiedNames(synthetic, shippedSetNames(), CLAIMS)).toEqual(['admin_full_access']);
+    // Prefix discipline: the longer name must not answer for the shorter one.
+    expect(unclassifiedNames('see organization_admin_no_bypass', shippedSetNames(), CLAIMS)).toEqual([
+      'organization_admin_no_bypass',
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it('every classified set matches what the platform ships', () => {
+    expect(unbackedClaims(CLAIMS)).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it('every set the watched prose names is classified (upward closure)', () => {
+    const shipped = shippedSetNames();
+    for (const [label, prose] of Object.entries(watchedSurfaces())) {
+      expect(unclassifiedNames(prose, shipped, CLAIMS), `${label}: unclassified set name`).toEqual([]);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('every classified set is still named by some watched surface (downward closure)', () => {
+    const shipped = shippedSetNames();
+    const named = new Set(Object.values(watchedSurfaces()).flatMap((p) => namedSets(p, shipped)));
+    expect([...Object.keys(CLAIMS)].filter((n) => !named.has(n))).toEqual([]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/audience-anchors.test.ts b/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/audience-anchors.test.ts
index 03cca52ae3..822d270696 100644
--- a/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/audience-anchors.test.ts
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/audience-anchors.test.ts
@@ -62,11 +62,21 @@ describe('describeHighPrivilegeBits (anchor-binding predicate)', () => {
     expect(describeHighPrivilegeBits({ systemPermissions: ['manage_users'], objects: {} })).toMatch(/system permissions/);
   });
 
-  it("a plain '*' wildcard without D5 bits is anchor-safe for everyone (#2753 — member_default's shape)", () => {
+  it("a plain '*' wildcard without D5 bits is anchor-safe for everyone (#2753)", () => {
     // D5 lists exactly viewAll/modifyAll, delete/purge/transfer, and system
     // permissions; the blanket wildcard ban was an over-tightening that made
-    // the platform's own baseline unbindable to the anchor. The wildcard ban
+    // the platform's then-baseline unbindable to the anchor. The wildcard ban
     // is the GUEST tier's rule (D9), asserted below.
+    //
+    // [#6842] The fixture below is a SYNTHETIC read/create/edit wildcard, not
+    // the shape of any set the platform ships. It is what `member_default`
+    // carried when #2753 was written; #5491 removed that wildcard outright, so
+    // naming this "member_default's shape" went stale without a gate moving.
+    // The shipped set that still carries a plain `'*'` is `viewer_readonly`,
+    // whose wildcard is read-ONLY — a strictly weaker corner of the same
+    // predicate, which is why the fixture stays synthetic rather than being
+    // re-pointed at that set. `audience-anchor-set-claims.pin.test.ts` holds
+    // both of those facts to the shipped `defaultPermissionSets`.
     expect(describeHighPrivilegeBits({ objects: { '*': { allowRead: true, allowCreate: true, allowEdit: true } } })).toBeNull();
     expect(describeHighPrivilegeBits({ objects: { '*': { allowRead: true, allowDelete: true } } })).toMatch(/delete\/purge\/transfer/);
   });
@@ -102,7 +112,15 @@ describe('describeHighPrivilegeBits (anchor-binding predicate)', () => {
 
   it('allowExport:false / unset stays anchor-safe (member_default keeps binding)', () => {
     // The platform baseline deliberately carries no export grant, so the
-    // everyone anchor must still accept it.
+    // everyone anchor must still accept it — that claim is still true, and
+    // the pin file holds it to the shipped array.
+    //
+    // [#6842] The FIRST fixture is the baseline's actual shape: explicit named
+    // objects, read bits, export off — how `member_default` ships since #5491.
+    // The SECOND repeats the check on a wildcard grant, which models no shipped
+    // set (the only anchor-safe wildcard carrier today is the read-only
+    // `viewer_readonly`); it is here to keep the export axis independent of the
+    // wildcard axis, not to illustrate the baseline.
     expect(describeHighPrivilegeBits({ objects: { a: { allowRead: true, allowExport: false } } })).toBeNull();
     expect(describeHighPrivilegeBits({ objects: { '*': { allowRead: true, allowCreate: true, allowEdit: true } } })).toBeNull();
   });