diff --git a/pam/TESTING.md b/pam/TESTING.md
index 3e9e477..cded47a 100644
--- a/pam/TESTING.md
+++ b/pam/TESTING.md
@@ -38,15 +38,34 @@ pamtester -v authforge "$USER" authenticate
 
 ## Smoke test 3: path-traversal regression
 
-These usernames must all be rejected with a logged error and `PAM_AUTH_ERR`:
+The guard in `safe_user` rejects names that break the path-as-identifier
+invariant: empty strings, `.`, `..`, anything containing `/` or NUL.
+Anything else passes through — including unusual but legitimate names that
+contain `..` as a substring (LDAP / federated identities can produce
+these). The loop below mixes both classes; the assertions live in the
+comments:
 
 ```bash
 for u in "../etc" "a/b" "" "." ".." "x..y"; do
     pamtester -v authforge "$u" authenticate 2>&1 | head -3
     echo "---"
 done
+# Expect rejected (logged "rejected unsafe username"): ../etc, a/b, "", ., ..
+# Expect passed through (no rejection log; pam_unix runs and prompts):  x..y
 ```
 
+Keeping `x..y` in the loop is intentional — it documents the boundary and
+acts as a regression test against accidental over-rejection if the guard
+is ever tightened.
+
+**Future hardening (deferred — not blocking v1):** the guard is a cheap
+pre-filter, not the authoritative boundary. A belt-and-suspenders pattern
+would be canonicalize-then-verify: build the per-user path, resolve it
+via `fs::canonicalize` (Rust) / `realpath` (C), and confirm the resolved
+path is still under the expected parent directory. That covers symlink
+shenanigans and any future `..`-substring attack surface uniformly.
+Track as a Phase 17 item.
+
 The module logs via `pam_syslog` without setting its own `openlog` ident,
 so journal entries inherit the calling process's syslog identifier:
 `pamtester` here, `sudo` / `sshd` / `gdm` / `login` in production. The