diff --git a/src/context/storage-provider.ts b/src/context/storage-provider.ts
index 000ee42..013711e 100644
--- a/src/context/storage-provider.ts
+++ b/src/context/storage-provider.ts
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ export class LocalFolderStorageProvider implements StorageProvider {
 
   async list(relativePath = ''): Promise<StorageProviderEntry[]> {
     const target = this.resolve(relativePath);
+    await this.assertRealPathWithinMount(target);
     const stat = await fsp.stat(target.realPath);
     if (!stat.isDirectory()) {
       return [{
@@ -62,6 +63,7 @@ export class LocalFolderStorageProvider implements StorageProvider {
       if (this.isExcluded(childRelative)) continue;
       if (!entry.isDirectory() && !this.options.isTextPath(entry.name)) continue;
       const realPath = path.join(target.realPath, entry.name);
+      if (!await this.realPathWithinMount(realPath)) continue;
       const itemStat = await fsp.stat(realPath);
       result.push({
         mount: this.mount.config.name,
@@ -87,6 +89,7 @@ export class LocalFolderStorageProvider implements StorageProvider {
   async read(relativePath: string): Promise<StorageProviderFile> {
     const target = this.resolve(relativePath);
     this.assertTextPath(target.virtualPath);
+    await this.assertRealPathWithinMount(target);
     const stat = await fsp.stat(target.realPath);
     if (!stat.isFile()) throw new Error(`${target.virtualPath} is not a file`);
     if (stat.size > this.options.maxTextBytes) throw new Error(`${target.virtualPath} is too large to read as text`);
@@ -105,6 +108,7 @@ export class LocalFolderStorageProvider implements StorageProvider {
     const target = this.resolve(relativePath);
     this.assertWritable(target);
     this.assertTextPath(target.virtualPath);
+    await this.assertRealPathWithinMount(target, { allowMissingLeaf: true });
     await fsp.mkdir(path.dirname(target.realPath), { recursive: true });
     await fsp.writeFile(target.realPath, content, 'utf-8');
     return this.read(relativePath);
@@ -113,6 +117,7 @@ export class LocalFolderStorageProvider implements StorageProvider {
   async remove(relativePath: string): Promise<void> {
     const target = this.resolve(relativePath);
     this.assertWritable(target);
+    await this.assertRealPathWithinMount(target);
     const stat = await fsp.stat(target.realPath);
     if (!stat.isFile()) throw new Error(`${target.virtualPath} is not a file`);
     await fsp.unlink(target.realPath);
@@ -167,6 +172,51 @@ export class LocalFolderStorageProvider implements StorageProvider {
     return path.resolve(this.mount.root, toVirtualRelative(relativePath));
   }
 
+  private async assertRealPathWithinMount(
+    target: ResolvedProviderPath,
+    options: { allowMissingLeaf?: boolean } = {},
+  ): Promise<void> {
+    const rootRealPath = await fsp.realpath(this.mount.root);
+    try {
+      const targetRealPath = await fsp.realpath(target.realPath);
+      if (!isWithin(rootRealPath, targetRealPath)) {
+        throw new Error(`${target.virtualPath} escapes mount root`);
+      }
+      return;
+    } catch (err) {
+      if (!options.allowMissingLeaf || !isMissingPathError(err)) throw err;
+    }
+
+    const ancestorRealPath = await this.nearestExistingAncestorRealPath(target.realPath);
+    if (!isWithin(rootRealPath, ancestorRealPath)) {
+      throw new Error(`${target.virtualPath} escapes mount root`);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private async realPathWithinMount(realPath: string): Promise<boolean> {
+    try {
+      const rootRealPath = await fsp.realpath(this.mount.root);
+      const targetRealPath = await fsp.realpath(realPath);
+      return isWithin(rootRealPath, targetRealPath);
+    } catch {
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
+
+  private async nearestExistingAncestorRealPath(realPath: string): Promise<string> {
+    let candidate = path.dirname(realPath);
+    while (true) {
+      try {
+        return await fsp.realpath(candidate);
+      } catch (err) {
+        if (!isMissingPathError(err)) throw err;
+        const parent = path.dirname(candidate);
+        if (parent === candidate) throw err;
+        candidate = parent;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   private assertWritable(target: ResolvedProviderPath): void {
     if (!this.mount.config.writeAccess) {
       throw new Error(`${this.mount.config.name} is read-only`);
@@ -229,3 +279,7 @@ function isWithin(root: string, candidate: string): boolean {
 function escapeRegExp(value: string): string {
   return value.replace(/[.*+?^${}()|[\]\\]/g, '\\$&');
 }
+
+function isMissingPathError(err: unknown): boolean {
+  return err instanceof Error && 'code' in err && err.code === 'ENOENT';
+}
diff --git a/tests/storage-provider.test.ts b/tests/storage-provider.test.ts
index fde8749..8bb59ff 100644
--- a/tests/storage-provider.test.ts
+++ b/tests/storage-provider.test.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import { parseConfig } from '../src/config/loader.js';
 import { MountRegistry } from '../src/context/mount-registry.js';
 import { LocalFolderStorageProvider } from '../src/context/storage-provider.js';
 
+const itUnlessWindows = process.platform === 'win32' ? it.skip : it;
+
 describe('LocalFolderStorageProvider', () => {
   let tmp: string;
 
@@ -69,6 +71,23 @@ describe('LocalFolderStorageProvider', () => {
 
     await expect(provider.write('new.md', 'content')).rejects.toThrow('read-only');
   });
+
+  itUnlessWindows('blocks symlink escapes for direct and nested paths', async () => {
+    const outside = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'mvmt-storage-provider-outside-'));
+    try {
+      await fs.writeFile(path.join(outside, 'secret.md'), 'secret', 'utf-8');
+      await fs.symlink(path.join(outside, 'secret.md'), path.join(tmp, 'linked-secret.md'));
+      await fs.symlink(outside, path.join(tmp, 'linked-dir'));
+      const provider = createProvider(tmp, true);
+
+      await expect(provider.read('linked-secret.md')).rejects.toThrow('escapes mount root');
+      await expect(provider.list('linked-dir')).rejects.toThrow('escapes mount root');
+      await expect(provider.write('linked-dir/new.md', 'new')).rejects.toThrow('escapes mount root');
+      await expect(provider.remove('linked-secret.md')).rejects.toThrow('escapes mount root');
+    } finally {
+      await fs.rm(outside, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
 });
 
 function createProvider(root: string, writeAccess: boolean): LocalFolderStorageProvider {
diff --git a/tests/text-index.test.ts b/tests/text-index.test.ts
index 82d8377..337487a 100644
--- a/tests/text-index.test.ts
+++ b/tests/text-index.test.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 import { parseConfig } from '../src/config/loader.js';
 import { TextContextIndex } from '../src/context/text-index.js';
 
+const itUnlessWindows = process.platform === 'win32' ? it.skip : it;
+
 describe('TextContextIndex', () => {
   let tmp: string;
 
@@ -98,6 +100,25 @@ describe('TextContextIndex', () => {
 
     await expect(index.write('/workspace/new.md', 'content')).rejects.toThrow('read-only');
   });
+
+  itUnlessWindows('does not index or read symlink escapes', async () => {
+    const outside = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'mvmt-text-index-outside-'));
+    try {
+      await fs.writeFile(path.join(outside, 'secret.md'), 'outside secret', 'utf-8');
+      await fs.symlink(path.join(outside, 'secret.md'), path.join(tmp, 'linked-secret.md'));
+      await fs.symlink(outside, path.join(tmp, 'linked-dir'));
+
+      const index = createIndex(tmp);
+      const stats = await index.rebuild();
+
+      expect(stats.files).toBe(0);
+      await expect(index.search('secret', ['workspace'], 10)).resolves.toEqual([]);
+      await expect(index.read('/workspace/linked-secret.md')).rejects.toThrow('escapes mount root');
+      await expect(index.write('/workspace/linked-dir/new.md', 'new')).rejects.toThrow('escapes mount root');
+    } finally {
+      await fs.rm(outside, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  });
 });
 
 function createIndex(root: string): TextContextIndex {