diff --git a/docs/swarm/ui.md b/docs/swarm/ui.md
index 01d53168..2195fc50 100644
--- a/docs/swarm/ui.md
+++ b/docs/swarm/ui.md
@@ -379,8 +379,8 @@ reader and to a certificate — so there is no separate option to pin.
 **This is the step that separates "protected" from "locked out."** The
 vhost's `auth_request` asks authelia _"is there a session"_; the rule
 that makes it mean _"is this an operator"_ is an `access_control` entry
-requiring `group:admins`. An account without that group authenticates
-fine and still gets bounced.
+requiring `group:admins`, followed by a `deny` for everyone else. An
+account without that group authenticates fine and still gets bounced.
 
 ```sh
 swarmctl user add <you> --email <you>@example.com --group admins
diff --git a/nix/host-modules/swarm-authelia.nix b/nix/host-modules/swarm-authelia.nix
index 6aaa3b53..dda1d29d 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/swarm-authelia.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/swarm-authelia.nix
@@ -43,6 +43,21 @@ let
   # failing the check it was supposed to pass.
   operatorGroup = "admins";
 
+  # `target`, for `operatorGroup` and nobody else. The `deny` is what makes
+  # the group rule exclusive, for the reason `collectorOnly` gives: a subject
+  # outside the group skips the first rule and would otherwise land on
+  # `default_policy`.
+  operatorsOnly = target: [
+    (
+      target
+      // {
+        policy = "one_factor";
+        subject = [ "group:${operatorGroup}" ];
+      }
+    )
+    (target // { policy = "deny"; })
+  ];
+
   # Whether the swarm collector's client is actually registered here.
   #
   # Asked of the client list rather than re-derived from the conditions
@@ -1137,9 +1152,10 @@ in
               # user", which is authentication, not authorisation. The
               # swarm UI is operator-only, and agents are getting
               # authelia accounts of their own — so the day that lands,
-              # a session alone would be enough to open it. The rule
-              # below is what makes the distinction real; without it
-              # the vhost's `auth_request` is a check nobody fails.
+              # a session alone would be enough to open it. The
+              # `operatorsOnly` pairs below are what make the distinction
+              # real; without them the vhost's `auth_request` is a check
+              # nobody fails.
               #
               # The group is a constant rather than an option: it is the
               # value an operator types into `swarmctl user add --group`,
@@ -1149,7 +1165,9 @@ in
                 default_policy = "one_factor";
                 # ⚠️ ORDER MATTERS — authelia takes the FIRST matching rule.
                 # The metrics rules are listed first so they cannot be
-                # shadowed by a broader domain rule added later.
+                # shadowed by a broader domain rule added later. A `deny` with
+                # no `resources` ends its domain: a rule for that domain
+                # listed after it is never reached.
                 rules =
                   # The collector's client where one is registered, then
                   # `deny` — see `collectorOnly` above, which is where the
@@ -1158,19 +1176,15 @@ in
                   ++ metricsStoreRules
                   # Also guarded on the domain being set: without it a null
                   # apex would render a rule matching the string "null".
-                  ++ lib.optional (deployCfg.swarm-controller.enable && swarmDomain != null) {
+                  ++ lib.optionals (deployCfg.swarm-controller.enable && swarmDomain != null) (operatorsOnly {
                     domain = swarmDomain;
-                    subject = [ "group:${operatorGroup}" ];
-                    policy = "one_factor";
-                  }
+                  })
                   # The store's browser UI. Not keyed to a deploy flag: its
                   # vhost is on the store's host, which need not be this
-                  # one, and without this rule any session passes it.
-                  ++ lib.optional (swarmDomain != null) {
+                  # one, and without these rules any session passes it.
+                  ++ lib.optionals (swarmDomain != null) (operatorsOnly {
                     domain = hyperhiveCfg.swarm.bao.ui.domain;
-                    subject = [ "group:${operatorGroup}" ];
-                    policy = "one_factor";
-                  };
+                  });
               };
 
               # The cookie domain is the SWARM's domain, NOT authelia's
diff --git a/nix/module-eval/lib.nix b/nix/module-eval/lib.nix
index fd86633e..8e733bc9 100644
--- a/nix/module-eval/lib.nix
+++ b/nix/module-eval/lib.nix
@@ -144,6 +144,50 @@ let
   otelSettings =
     machine: machine.containers.swarm-otel.config.services.opentelemetry-collector.settings;
 
+  autheliaRules =
+    machine:
+    machine.containers.swarm-authelia.config.services.authelia.instances.swarm.settings.access_control.rules;
+
+  # Whether authelia's `rules`, read first-match-wins, leave no subject-scoped
+  # allow open to other subjects, and leave no rule unreachable.
+  #
+  # A rule with a `subject` does not match a subject outside it, so that
+  # subject falls through to `default_policy` unless a later subject-less
+  # `deny` on the same domain, with no `resources` or the same ones, catches
+  # it first. Walking forward from the allow, the first subject-less rule on
+  # its domain that is either an allow or such a `deny` must be the `deny`.
+  # A subject-less `deny` on narrower `resources` refuses everyone it
+  # matches, so it is passed over. Rules naming a subject are passed over too.
+  #
+  # A subject-less `deny` with no `resources` matches every request on its
+  # domain, so no rule for that domain may follow it.
+  # ⚠️ True of a list with no subject rule at all; a case using it also
+  # asserts that the rules it reads contain the ones it means.
+  autheliaSubjectRulesClosed =
+    rules:
+    let
+      n = lib.length rules;
+      at = lib.elemAt rules;
+      after = i: map at (lib.range (i + 1) (n - 1));
+      anyone = r: !(r ? subject);
+      closes = r: d: d.policy == "deny" && (!(d ? resources) || d.resources == (r.resources or null));
+      closed =
+        i:
+        let
+          r = at i;
+          stop = lib.findFirst (
+            d: d.domain == r.domain && anyone d && (d.policy != "deny" || closes r d)
+          ) null (after i);
+        in
+        stop != null && closes r stop;
+      endsDomain = d: anyone d && d.policy == "deny" && !(d ? resources);
+      nothingAfter = i: lib.all (r: r.domain != (at i).domain) (after i);
+    in
+    lib.all (
+      i:
+      (anyone (at i) || (at i).policy == "deny" || closed i) && (!(endsDomain (at i)) || nothingAfter i)
+    ) (lib.range 0 (n - 1));
+
   agentHarness = machine: machine.systemd.services.hive-agent;
 
   # The PRIORITY → severity operator both journald receivers attach, read
@@ -221,6 +265,8 @@ in
   inherit bridgePortsOrNone;
   inherit baoSettings;
   inherit otelSettings;
+  inherit autheliaRules;
+  inherit autheliaSubjectRulesClosed;
   inherit agentHarness;
   inherit journaldSeverityParser;
   inherit carriesJournaldSeverity;
diff --git a/nix/module-eval/swarm-otel-identity.nix b/nix/module-eval/swarm-otel-identity.nix
index 558ac020..ada466a1 100644
--- a/nix/module-eval/swarm-otel-identity.nix
+++ b/nix/module-eval/swarm-otel-identity.nix
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ let
     hive
     runGroup
     otelSettings
+    autheliaRules
+    autheliaSubjectRulesClosed
     ;
 
   # A collector holding no store identity at all. Unlike Grafana's mirror
@@ -640,6 +642,123 @@ let
         in
         !(lib.any (n: lib.elem n (u.after ++ u.wants ++ u.requires)) storeUnits);
     }
+    {
+      # An account in no group, on the swarm UI and the store's UI. A group
+      # rule alone does not refuse it: it skips the rule and lands on
+      # `default_policy`. `swarmctl --swarm`'s bearer is an operator's own
+      # token, so it is the `group:admins` arm here. The forge has no rule and
+      # stays open to any session.
+      name = "authelia refuses an account outside the operator group on the swarm UI and the store's UI";
+      ok =
+        let
+          h = allLocal.services.hyperhive;
+          ui = h.swarm.bao.ui.domain;
+          policy = autheliaPolicy allLocal;
+          paths = [
+            "/"
+            "/api/agents"
+            "/api/whoami"
+            "/api/docs/"
+          ];
+        in
+        h.deploy.swarm-controller.enable
+        && h.swarm.domain == "t.local"
+        && ui == "bao-ui.t.local"
+        && lib.all (p: policy "user:nobody" "t.local" p == "deny") paths
+        && policy "user:nobody" ui "/" == "deny"
+        && lib.all (p: policy "group:admins" "t.local" p == "one_factor") paths
+        && policy "group:admins" ui "/" == "one_factor"
+        && policy "user:nobody" "forge.t.local" "/" == "one_factor";
+    }
+    {
+      # Every subject-scoped rule the host renders, read in order. The `elem`
+      # clauses are the control for the predicate's vacuous case; the
+      # synthetic lists pin what it accepts and refuses, the first of them
+      # being the real rules with the operator denies cut out.
+      name = "every subject-scoped authelia rule is closed by a deny on its domain";
+      ok =
+        let
+          rules = autheliaRules allLocal;
+          scoped = lib.filter (r: r ? subject) rules;
+          closed = autheliaSubjectRulesClosed;
+          rejects = rs: !(closed rs);
+          allow = {
+            domain = "t.local";
+            subject = [ "group:admins" ];
+            policy = "one_factor";
+          };
+          deny = {
+            domain = "t.local";
+            policy = "deny";
+          };
+          narrow = deny // {
+            resources = [ "^/m$" ];
+          };
+          operatorDeny =
+            r:
+            r.policy == "deny"
+            && !(r ? subject)
+            && !(r ? resources)
+            && lib.elem r.domain [
+              "t.local"
+              "bao-ui.t.local"
+            ];
+        in
+        closed rules
+        && lib.elem allow scoped
+        && lib.elem (allow // { domain = "bao-ui.t.local"; }) scoped
+        && lib.any (
+          r: r.subject == [ "oauth2:client:${allLocal.services.hyperhive.swarm.otel.clientId}" ]
+        ) scoped
+        && rejects (lib.filter (r: !(operatorDeny r)) rules)
+        && closed [
+          allow
+          deny
+        ]
+        # a rule for anyone needs no deny behind it
+        && closed [ (removeAttrs allow [ "subject" ]) ]
+        && closed [
+          (allow // { resources = narrow.resources; })
+          narrow
+        ]
+        # a narrower deny between two allows refuses everyone it matches
+        && closed [
+          (allow // { subject = [ "oauth2:client:c" ]; })
+          narrow
+          allow
+          deny
+        ]
+        && rejects [ allow ]
+        && rejects [
+          allow
+          narrow
+        ]
+        && rejects [
+          allow
+          (deny // { domain = "other.local"; })
+        ]
+        && rejects [
+          allow
+          (deny // { subject = [ "user:x" ]; })
+        ]
+        # a subject-less allow in between admits everyone first
+        && rejects [
+          allow
+          (deny // { policy = "one_factor"; })
+          deny
+        ]
+        # nothing reaches a rule after a domain-wide deny
+        && rejects [
+          deny
+          allow
+        ]
+        && rejects [
+          allow
+          deny
+          (allow // { subject = [ "group:other" ]; })
+          deny
+        ];
+    }
   ];
 in
 runGroup "swarm-otel-identity" cases