diff --git a/mise-tasks/ntia-check.sh b/mise-tasks/ntia-check.sh
index 4d63184f8..650763366 100755
--- a/mise-tasks/ntia-check.sh
+++ b/mise-tasks/ntia-check.sh
@@ -62,7 +62,11 @@
 #MUTANT precondition-guesses-an-absent-spec|s/^\tif \[\[ -z "\$doc_version" \]\]; then$/\tif false; then/|a document declaring no spdxVersion is could-not-look, never a pass
 # And the receipt's demotion to advisory. The mutation restores the shipped defect
 # — a failed record deciding conformance — which is the false verdict CI reported.
-#MUTANT receipt-failure-decides-conformance|s@^\techo "ntia-check: \$\{spdx##\*/\} conforms, but the replay receipt.*$@\texit 1@|a receipt that cannot be written is reported, never a nonconformance
+# The braces are LITERAL and therefore UNESCAPED (CLOUD-1034). `\{ … \}` is the
+# BRE interval quantifier, so the escaped spelling made sed reject the whole
+# expression — `Invalid content of \{\}` — and this row never applied at all, on
+# the one mutation guarding a defect that already reached CI.
+#MUTANT receipt-failure-decides-conformance|s@^\techo "ntia-check: \${spdx##\*/} conforms, but the replay receipt.*$@\texit 1@|a receipt that cannot be written is reported, never a nonconformance
 set -euo pipefail
 
 # Resolved BEFORE the cd: `$0` may be relative, and moving first would leave this
diff --git a/mise-tasks/release-tracking-check.sh b/mise-tasks/release-tracking-check.sh
index acdf0f3af..602189bc0 100755
--- a/mise-tasks/release-tracking-check.sh
+++ b/mise-tasks/release-tracking-check.sh
@@ -90,7 +90,11 @@
 # The ORDER is the whole of the second defect. Drop the comparison and a refresh
 # placed AFTER the resolver satisfies the rule — which is the workflow that ran 32
 # times and recorded nothing, wearing a passing gate.
-#MUTANT refresh-order-ignored|s/\[\[ "\$refresh_line" -lt "\$resolver_line" \]\]/true/|a tag refresh AFTER the resolver does not satisfy the rule
+# Field 3 is a bats --filter, a case-sensitive regex, NOT a description
+# (CLOUD-1034). It read "a tag refresh AFTER the resolver does not satisfy the
+# rule", which matches no case — the suite's is "a tag refresh after the resolver
+# is a violation" — so this row selected nothing and judged nothing.
+#MUTANT refresh-order-ignored|s/\[\[ "\$refresh_line" -lt "\$resolver_line" \]\]/true/|a tag refresh after the resolver
 
 set -euo pipefail