diff --git a/compartments/kryptikd/src/spawn.rs b/compartments/kryptikd/src/spawn.rs
index 3347e553..a6ce17be 100644
--- a/compartments/kryptikd/src/spawn.rs
+++ b/compartments/kryptikd/src/spawn.rs
@@ -1251,6 +1251,21 @@ fn intermediate_main(
             Some(format!("/proc/self/fd/{raw}"))
         }
     };
+    /* The images' /usr too: its set is stacked under /run/kryptik (images.rs), which the zone's
+     * mapped root may not walk. Like the broker's, the descriptor dies in pid 1's sweep. */
+    let usr_in_zone = if usr == "/usr" {
+        usr.to_string()
+    } else {
+        let c = match std::ffi::CString::new(usr) {
+            Ok(c) => c,
+            Err(_) => bail!("the images' /usr path contains a NUL"),
+        };
+        let fd = unsafe { libc::open(c.as_ptr(), libc::O_PATH | libc::O_DIRECTORY | libc::O_NOFOLLOW) };
+        if fd < 0 {
+            bail!("the images' /usr at {}: {}", usr, io::Error::last_os_error());
+        }
+        format!("/proc/self/fd/{fd}")
+    };
 
     // Until the parent writes our id maps we are nobody (65534) and cannot become root.
     ready.signal();
@@ -1312,7 +1327,7 @@ fn intermediate_main(
     if inner == 0 {
         alive.close_write();
         let service = maps_service(id.privileged, zone_policy);
-        let rc = zone_init(zone, rootfs, argv, flags, zone_policy, fs_rules, plumbed, &broker_in_zone, wayland_in_zone.as_deref(), wifi_conf, sound_dir, camera_dir, usr, service, &alive);
+        let rc = zone_init(zone, rootfs, argv, flags, zone_policy, fs_rules, plumbed, &broker_in_zone, wayland_in_zone.as_deref(), wifi_conf, sound_dir, camera_dir, &usr_in_zone, service, &alive);
         unsafe { libc::_exit(rc) };
     }
     alive.close_read();
diff --git a/docs/design/software-delivery.md b/docs/design/software-delivery.md
index 3296efd8..07eefbf3 100644
--- a/docs/design/software-delivery.md
+++ b/docs/design/software-delivery.md
@@ -295,7 +295,9 @@ up ADR-001 in the zones where the applications run.
   a zone names, kryptikd mounts a read-only overlay (no upper directory; the
   images' `usr` over the root's `/usr`; redirects in a layer not followed)
   at `/run/kryptik/usr/<set>` in the initial namespace, and the zone's bind
-  of `/usr` takes that instead. A set already mounted there is used only if
+  of `/usr` takes that instead, through a descriptor kryptikd opens before
+  it takes the zone's ids: `/run/kryptik` is root's alone, and the zone's
+  mapped root may not walk it. A set already mounted there is used only if
   it stacks exactly those mounts, as its name holds 64 bits of each root
   hash. Since zone 0 mounts it and the zone only receives a bind, the
   hardened kernel's `OVERLAY_FS_UNPRIVILEGED`, which is off, does not come