diff --git a/.changeset/rest-auth-gate-path-guard.md b/.changeset/rest-auth-gate-path-guard.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0d3b249256
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/rest-auth-gate-path-guard.md
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/rest": patch
+---
+
+fix(rest): exempt a request from the ADR-0069 auth gate only when it carries a REAL path (#7432)
+
+`isAuthGateAllowlisted(undefined)` returns `true` — it treats "no path" as
+allow-listed. REST's `enforceAuth` passed `req.path` straight through, so a
+request whose `path` was absent or an empty string read as allow-listed on
+**every** route and the ADR-0069 gate (expired password / enforced MFA) did not
+fire for a session policy says must be blocked.
+
+`enforceAuth` now applies the guard its sibling seam already carries
+(`shouldDenyAnonymous`, `@objectstack/core/security`): a path exempts a gated
+session only when it is a non-empty string that the allow-list actually accepts.
+
+**Nothing shipped was bypassable.** The hono adapter populates `path` at all
+three request-construction sites, so no live transport reached this seam without
+one. What is fixed is the direction of the default: the guard was carried by the
+**caller's** discipline on a fail-OPEN seam, so a new transport adapter — or any
+synthetic request — disabled a security gate by omission with no test going red.
+
+No behaviour change for any request that carries a path: allow-listed paths
+(auth, remediation, health, UI-bootstrap reads) still pass, protected paths still
+block, and `OPTIONS` preflight is still exempt. A gated session with no path is
+now blocked rather than waved through.
diff --git a/packages/rest/src/rest-auth-gate.test.ts b/packages/rest/src/rest-auth-gate.test.ts
index 34e3c0fd15..773502eee5 100644
--- a/packages/rest/src/rest-auth-gate.test.ts
+++ b/packages/rest/src/rest-auth-gate.test.ts
@@ -60,3 +60,68 @@ describe('RestServer.enforceAuth — ADR-0069 auth-policy gate', () => {
     expect(r.blocked).toBe(false);
   });
 });
+
+// #7432 — a request carrying NO path must not be exempt from the gate.
+//
+// `isAuthGateAllowlisted(undefined)` returns `true` (it treats "no path" as
+// allow-listed), so passing `req.path` through raw made a pathless request read
+// as allow-listed on every route and the gate silently did not fire. These pin
+// the CONSEQUENCE — blocked / not blocked — rather than the guard expression, so
+// they stay meaningful if the guard is rewritten. Removing the guard turns the
+// first two red; they are the reverse-verification target.
+describe('#7432 — enforceAuth exempts only a REAL path from the ADR-0069 gate', () => {
+  const gate = (req: any, context: any) => {
+    const { res, state } = makeRes();
+    const blocked = (rest as any).enforceAuth(req, res, context);
+    return { blocked, state };
+  };
+  const GATED = { userId: 'u1', authGate: { code: 'PASSWORD_EXPIRED', message: 'change it' } };
+
+  it('blocks a gated session when `path` is ABSENT', () => {
+    const r = gate({ method: 'GET' }, GATED);
+    expect(r.blocked).toBe(true);
+    expect(r.state.status).toBe(403);
+    expect(r.state.body.error.code).toBe('PASSWORD_EXPIRED');
+  });
+
+  it('blocks a gated session when `path` is the EMPTY STRING', () => {
+    const r = gate({ method: 'GET', path: '' }, GATED);
+    expect(r.blocked).toBe(true);
+    expect(r.state.status).toBe(403);
+    expect(r.state.body.error.code).toBe('PASSWORD_EXPIRED');
+  });
+
+  // The load-bearing half: a guard that fixes the bypass by blocking everything
+  // is not a fix. The allow-list must still allow, and an ungated session must
+  // still be ungated — including on the pathless requests above, where the gate
+  // branch is now reached but has no gate to apply.
+  it('still lets a gated session reach every allow-listed path shape', () => {
+    for (const path of [
+      '/api/v1/auth/change-password',            // ALLOW_PREFIXES
+      '/auth/two-factor/enable',                 // dispatcher path shape
+      '/api/v1/environments/env1/auth/sign-out', // embedded `/auth/` segment
+      '/api/v1/health',                          // ALLOW_SUFFIXES
+      '/api/v1/me/apps',                         // UI-bootstrap read
+    ]) {
+      expect(gate({ method: 'GET', path }, GATED).blocked).toBe(false);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('still blocks an ordinary gated request on a protected path', () => {
+    const r = gate({ method: 'GET', path: '/api/v1/data/sys_user' }, GATED);
+    expect(r.blocked).toBe(true);
+    expect(r.state.status).toBe(403);
+  });
+
+  it('does not block an UNGATED session that happens to carry no path', () => {
+    // The guard tightens the exemption, not the gate: with no `authGate` there
+    // is nothing to enforce, so a pathless authenticated request passes exactly
+    // as it did before. (`shouldDenyAnonymous` sees `userId`, so no 401 either.)
+    expect(gate({ method: 'GET' }, { userId: 'u1' }).blocked).toBe(false);
+    expect(gate({ method: 'GET', path: '' }, { userId: 'u1' }).blocked).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('still ignores OPTIONS preflight when gated and pathless', () => {
+    expect(gate({ method: 'OPTIONS' }, GATED).blocked).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/rest/src/rest-server.ts b/packages/rest/src/rest-server.ts
index 45bb4ee5e0..65b6f1d942 100644
--- a/packages/rest/src/rest-server.ts
+++ b/packages/rest/src/rest-server.ts
@@ -2432,7 +2432,19 @@ export class RestServer {
         // blocked from protected resources, while the core allow-list keeps auth
         // + remediation reachable. Runs before the anonymous check.
         const gate = context?.authGate;
-        if (gate && req?.method !== 'OPTIONS' && !isAuthGateAllowlisted(req?.path)) {
+        // Exemption requires a REAL, non-empty path — mirrors the sibling seam
+        // (`shouldDenyAnonymous`, core/src/security/anonymous-deny.ts:122).
+        //
+        // ⚠️ `isAuthGateAllowlisted(undefined)` returns `true` (it treats "no
+        // path" as allow-listed). Passed the raw value, a request whose `path`
+        // is absent or empty read as allow-listed on EVERY route, so the gate
+        // did not fire for a session policy says must be blocked — fail-OPEN by
+        // omission. No shipped transport reaches here without a `path` (the
+        // hono adapter sets it at all three request-construction sites), so this
+        // is the default being made safe, not a live bypass being closed (#7432).
+        const pathExempt =
+            typeof req?.path === 'string' && req.path.length > 0 && isAuthGateAllowlisted(req.path);
+        if (gate && req?.method !== 'OPTIONS' && !pathExempt) {
             res.status(403).json({ error: { code: gate.code, message: gate.message } });
             return true;
         }