diff --git a/.githooks/pre-commit b/.githooks/pre-commit
index 5c1a608..1e41f1c 100755
--- a/.githooks/pre-commit
+++ b/.githooks/pre-commit
@@ -34,24 +34,36 @@ placeholders='changeme|change[-_]|placeholder|redacted|example|sample|dummy|noke
 # how a gate gets permanently overridden.
 assign_exempt='(_FILE|_PATH|_DIR|_URL|_ENDPOINT|_SOCKET)[[:space:]]*[:=]|[:=][[:space:]]*["'"'"']?(/|\.\./)'
 # Fail closed: a gate that cannot read the staged diff must not report success.
-if ! files=$(git diff --cached --diff-filter=ACM --name-only 2>&1); then
+#
+# `-z`, and the list lives in a file. Two traps decide this: git quotes any path it cannot print
+# as UTF-8 (core.quotePath is on by default), and a quoted name handed back to
+# `git diff -- <path>` matches nothing — the file is skipped, and a skipped file used to be a
+# silent pass. Command substitution cannot hold the list either, because $() deletes NUL bytes,
+# so the names go to a temp file and the loop reads them with a NUL delimiter.
+TMPD=$(mktemp -d) || TMPD=""
+if [ -z "$TMPD" ]; then
+  echo "SECRET GATE: cannot create a temp dir — refusing to commit." >&2
+  [ -n "${ALLOW_SECRETS:-}" ] && exit 0
+  exit 1
+fi
+trap 'rm -rf "$TMPD"' EXIT
+if ! git diff --cached --diff-filter=ACM --name-only -z > "$TMPD/files" 2> "$TMPD/err"; then
   {
     echo "SECRET GATE: cannot read the staged diff — refusing to commit."
-    printf '  %s\n' "$files"
+    sed 's/^/  /' "$TMPD/err"
     echo "Override deliberately: ALLOW_SECRETS=1 git commit ..."
   } >&2
   [ -n "${ALLOW_SECRETS:-}" ] && exit 0
   exit 1
 fi
-# stderr is captured so the failure branch can quote it; on success it must not
-# leak a `warning:` line into the file list and have it mistaken for a path.
-files=$(printf '%s\n' "$files" | grep -vE '^(warning|fatal|error):' || true)
-[ -z "${files//[[:space:]]/}" ] && exit 0
+# git's stderr stays out of the name list on purpose: a `warning:` line mistaken for a path
+# becomes a file that "cannot be read", which is how a gate starts skipping the real ones.
+[ -s "$TMPD/files" ] || exit 0
 
 report=""
 exempt=""
 count=0
-while IFS= read -r f; do
+while IFS= read -r -d '' f; do
   [ -z "$f" ] && continue
   # Self-exemption, deliberately an exact filename list and not `tests/`: the
   # gate's fixtures must contain credential-shaped strings or there is nothing to
@@ -69,15 +81,29 @@ while IFS= read -r f; do
   [ -z "$added" ] && continue
   hits=$(printf '%s\n' "$added" | grep -Ei "$shapes" || true)
   if [ "${f##*.}" != "md" ]; then
-    assigns=$(printf '%s\n' "$added" | grep -Ei "$assign" | grep -Ev "$assign_exempt" | grep -Eiv "$placeholders" || true)
+    # The placeholder filter reads the VALUE, never the whole line. A trailing comment that
+    # says `# example` says nothing about the token the same line assigns; scoping the filter
+    # to what follows the separator is what keeps `API_TOKEN=<real>  # placeholder` a block.
+    assigns=$(printf '%s\n' "$added" | grep -Ei "$assign" | grep -Ev "$assign_exempt" \
+      | while IFS= read -r line; do
+          # The judged value is the assigned token alone: it ends at whitespace or `#`, so a
+          # trailing comment cannot vouch for it. Truncating a quoted value early only ever errs
+          # toward blocking, which is the safe direction for a gate that can be overridden.
+          value=${line#*[:=]}
+          value=${value#"${value%%[![:space:]]*}"}
+          value=${value%%[[:space:]]*}
+          value=${value%%#*}
+          printf '%s\n' "$value" | grep -Eiq "$placeholders" && continue
+          printf '%s\n' "$line"
+        done)
     hits=$(printf '%s\n%s\n' "$hits" "$assigns" | sed '/^[[:space:]]*$/d')
   fi
   if [ -n "$hits" ]; then
     n=$(printf '%s\n' "$hits" | wc -l)
     count=$((count + n))
-    report+="  $f"$'\n'"$(printf '%s\n' "$hits" | cut -c1-100 | sed 's/^/    /')"
+    report+="  $f"$'\n'"$(printf '%s\n' "$hits" | cut -c1-100 | sed 's/^/    /')"$'\n'
   fi
-done <<< "$files"
+done < "$TMPD/files"
 
 # Say so out loud: an exemption that prints nothing is how a carve-out becomes
 # invisible, and invisible is the property a secret wants.
diff --git a/tests/secret-gate.bats b/tests/secret-gate.bats
index c354765..04f6ffb 100755
--- a/tests/secret-gate.bats
+++ b/tests/secret-gate.bats
@@ -157,3 +157,35 @@ export API_KEY_FILE=/run/secrets/api_key'
   [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
   [[ "$output" == *"tests/other.bats"* ]]
 }
+
+@test "a credential under a path git quotes is still read" {
+  # core.quotePath is on by default, so `git diff --name-only` prints "caf\303\251/…" for a
+  # non-ASCII directory. Feed that quoted string back to `git diff -- <path>` and the diff is
+  # empty — and a gate that skips an unreadable file reports success. This is the fail-closed
+  # promise breaking on its own terms, not a cosmetic quoting complaint.
+  try_commit "café/postgres.env" 'POSTGRES_PASSWORD=hunter2corp2026'
+  [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+  [[ "$output" == *"postgres.env"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "a placeholder word elsewhere on the line does not exempt a live value" {
+  # The rule is about the VALUE. `# example` in a comment says nothing about the token the
+  # line assigns, but a whole-line placeholder filter lets the comment vouch for the secret.
+  try_commit "app.env" 'API_TOKEN=hunter2corp2026    # example, placeholder, changeme'
+  [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+  [[ "$output" == *"app.env"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "each hit is attributed to the file it came from" {
+  # The report is how the next agent finds the leak. If one file's last hit line runs into the
+  # next file's name, the audit starts at a clean file and the leaker keeps its name.
+  mkdir -p "$REPO/a" "$REPO/b"
+  printf 'A_PASSWORD=hunter2corp2026\n' > "$REPO/a/one.env"
+  printf 'B_PASSWORD=hunter2corp2026\n' > "$REPO/b/two.env"
+  run git -C "$REPO" add -A
+  run git -C "$REPO" commit -q -m "two leakers"
+  [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
+  printf '%s\n' "$output" | grep -qx '  a/one.env'
+  printf '%s\n' "$output" | grep -qx '  b/two.env'
+  ! printf '%s\n' "$output" | grep -qE 'hunter2corp2026 +b/two\.env'
+}