diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c1e6883..c2ab4aa 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 - Route archive ZIP staging, temp workspace sync reads, secret-file commits, and atomic move/replace fallbacks through shared pinned-read or guarded-write primitives without applying private-directory modes to public paths.
 - Close guarded fallback write handles without following path names if post-write directory verification fails, avoiding descriptor leaks and unsafe cleanup in symlink-swap races.
 - Preserve empty-directory pruning and broken-symlink trash moves across guarded fallback paths.
+- Preserve sync file-store read policy errors for directory and hardlink validation failures.
 
 ### Tests
 
diff --git a/src/file-store.ts b/src/file-store.ts
index a9aeaf0..5592c87 100644
--- a/src/file-store.ts
+++ b/src/file-store.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import {
 import { createJsonStore, type JsonFileStoreOptions, type JsonStore } from "./json-document-store.js";
 import { isPathInside, resolveSafeRelativePath } from "./path.js";
 import { root, type OpenResult, type ReadResult, type Root, type RootReadOptions } from "./root.js";
-import { openRootFileSync } from "./root-file.js";
+import { matchRootFileOpenFailure, openRootFileSync, type RootFileOpenFailure } from "./root-file.js";
 import { writeSecretFileAtomic } from "./secret-file.js";
 import { getFsSafeTestHooks } from "./test-hooks.js";
 
@@ -129,12 +129,40 @@ function assertMaxBytes(size: number, maxBytes?: number): void {
 }
 
 function isNotFound(error: unknown): boolean {
+  if (!error) {
+    return false;
+  }
   return error instanceof FsSafeError
     ? error.code === "not-found"
     : (error as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === "ENOENT" ||
         (error as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === "ENOTDIR";
 }
 
+function handleSyncStoreReadOpenFailure(opened: RootFileOpenFailure): null {
+  return matchRootFileOpenFailure<null>(opened, {
+    path: (failure) => {
+      if (isNotFound(failure.error)) {
+        return null;
+      }
+      throw new FsSafeError("path-mismatch", "store target changed during read", {
+        cause: failure.error instanceof Error ? failure.error : undefined,
+      });
+    },
+    validation: (failure) => {
+      // Validation failures mean the path existed but violated store policy
+      // (directory, hardlink, symlink race). Do not report them as missing.
+      throw new FsSafeError("path-mismatch", "store target failed read validation", {
+        cause: failure.error instanceof Error ? failure.error : undefined,
+      });
+    },
+    fallback: (failure) => {
+      throw new FsSafeError("path-mismatch", "store target changed during read", {
+        cause: failure.error instanceof Error ? failure.error : undefined,
+      });
+    },
+  });
+}
+
 async function copyIntoRoot(params: {
   rootDir: string;
   relativePath: string;
@@ -521,12 +549,7 @@ export function fileStoreSync(options: FileStoreOptions): FileStoreSync {
         rejectHardlinks: privateMode,
       });
       if (!opened.ok) {
-        if (isNotFound(opened.error)) {
-          return null;
-        }
-        throw new FsSafeError("path-mismatch", "store target changed during read", {
-          cause: opened.error instanceof Error ? opened.error : undefined,
-        });
+        return handleSyncStoreReadOpenFailure(opened);
       }
       try {
         assertMaxBytes(opened.stat.size, readOptions?.maxBytes ?? maxBytes);
diff --git a/test/file-store-sync-read-validation.test.ts b/test/file-store-sync-read-validation.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a01d50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/file-store-sync-read-validation.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+import fsSync from "node:fs";
+import fs from "node:fs/promises";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { fileStoreSync } from "../src/file-store.js";
+
+const tempDirs: string[] = [];
+
+async function tempRoot(prefix: string): Promise<string> {
+  const dir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), prefix));
+  tempDirs.push(dir);
+  return dir;
+}
+
+afterEach(async () => {
+  await Promise.all(tempDirs.splice(0).map((dir) => fs.rm(dir, { recursive: true, force: true })));
+});
+
+describe("sync file-store read validation failures", () => {
+  it("surfaces directories as filesystem safety errors", async () => {
+    const root = await tempRoot("fs-safe-sync-store-validation-");
+    await fs.mkdir(path.join(root, "not-a-file"));
+    const store = fileStoreSync({ rootDir: root, private: true });
+
+    expect(() => store.readTextIfExists("not-a-file")).toThrow(
+      expect.objectContaining({ code: "path-mismatch" }),
+    );
+  });
+
+  it.runIf(process.platform !== "win32")("surfaces hardlinks as filesystem safety errors", async () => {
+    const root = await tempRoot("fs-safe-sync-store-hardlink-");
+    const filePath = path.join(root, "value.txt");
+    await fs.writeFile(filePath, "secret");
+    fsSync.linkSync(filePath, path.join(root, "alias.txt"));
+    const store = fileStoreSync({ rootDir: root, private: true });
+
+    expect(() => store.readTextIfExists("value.txt")).toThrow(
+      expect.objectContaining({ code: "path-mismatch" }),
+    );
+  });
+});