diff --git a/.github/workflows/verify-keycloak-cohort-restores.yml b/.github/workflows/verify-keycloak-cohort-restores.yml
index 128f5f4..121023e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/verify-keycloak-cohort-restores.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/verify-keycloak-cohort-restores.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ on:
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs:
       keycloak_release_sha:
-        description: Exact protected Keycloak main SHA whose pinned 26.7.3 runtime must start all five restored databases
+        description: Exact protected Keycloak main SHA whose reviewed pinned runtime must start all five restored databases
         required: true
         type: string
 
@@ -66,9 +66,7 @@ jobs:
           set -euo pipefail
           [[ "$(git rev-parse HEAD)" == "${GITHUB_SHA}" ]]
           [[ "$(git -C _keycloak rev-parse HEAD)" == "${KEYCLOAK_RELEASE_SHA}" ]]
-          grep -Fxq 'KEYCLOAK_UPSTREAM_VERSION=26.7.3' _keycloak/envs/production/.env.keycloak
-          grep -Fxq 'KEYCLOAK_IMAGE=dhi.io/keycloak:26-debian13@sha256:fab1484b1762fd1269e63a40f068ec73ea75b498eaaa5d02f62f022a5d00ff0f' \
-            _keycloak/envs/production/.env.keycloak
+          python3 scripts/read-keycloak-runtime.py _keycloak/envs/production/.env.keycloak --field github-env >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
 
       - name: Ensure interrupted cohort material expires on the release host
         shell: bash
@@ -140,7 +138,7 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           export DOCKER_CONFIG="/tmp/postgres-keycloak-cohort-${GITHUB_RUN_ID}-${GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT}/docker"
-          base='dhi.io/keycloak:26-debian13@sha256:fab1484b1762fd1269e63a40f068ec73ea75b498eaaa5d02f62f022a5d00ff0f'
+          base="${COHORT_KEYCLOAK_IMAGE}"
           tag="makepad/keycloak-catwlk-cohort:${KEYCLOAK_RELEASE_SHA}"
           manifest_runtime=$(python3 - <<'PY'
           import json
@@ -167,7 +165,7 @@ jobs:
           set -euo pipefail
           job_root="/tmp/postgres-keycloak-cohort-${GITHUB_RUN_ID}-${GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT}"
           export DOCKER_CONFIG="${job_root}/docker"
-          docker pull 'dhi.io/keycloak:26-debian13@sha256:fab1484b1762fd1269e63a40f068ec73ea75b498eaaa5d02f62f022a5d00ff0f' >/dev/null
+          docker pull "${COHORT_KEYCLOAK_IMAGE}" >/dev/null
           docker pull 'postgres:16-alpine@sha256:57c72fd2a128e416c7fcc499958864df5301e940bca0a56f58fddf30ffc07777' >/dev/null
           catwlk_image=$(<"${job_root}/catwlk-image-tag")
           scripts/restore-keycloak-cohort-backups.sh "${job_root}/backups" "${job_root}/results" _keycloak "${catwlk_image}"
@@ -182,7 +180,7 @@ jobs:
           evidence_dir="${job_root}/evidence"
           install -d -m 0700 "${evidence_dir}"
           python3 - "${job_root}/results/instances.json" "${evidence_dir}/keycloak-cohort-restore-evidence.json" \
-            "${GITHUB_RUN_ID}" "${GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT}" "${GITHUB_SHA}" "${KEYCLOAK_RELEASE_SHA}" <<'PY'
+            "${GITHUB_RUN_ID}" "${GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT}" "${GITHUB_SHA}" "${KEYCLOAK_RELEASE_SHA}" "${COHORT_KEYCLOAK_IMAGE}" "${COHORT_KEYCLOAK_VERSION}" <<'PY'
           import json
           import pathlib
           import sys
@@ -197,10 +195,10 @@ jobs:
               "postgres_head_sha": sys.argv[5],
               "postgres_ref": "refs/heads/main",
               "keycloak_release_sha": sys.argv[6],
-              "keycloak_base_image": "dhi.io/keycloak:26-debian13@sha256:fab1484b1762fd1269e63a40f068ec73ea75b498eaaa5d02f62f022a5d00ff0f",
+              "keycloak_base_image": sys.argv[7],
               "catwlk_runtime_image_id": results["catwlk_runtime_image_id"],
               "fingerprint_schema": "makepad.keycloak-config-fingerprint.v2",
-              "keycloak_upstream_version": "26.7.3",
+              "keycloak_upstream_version": sys.argv[8],
               "result": "restored-databases-compatible",
               "instances": results["instances"],
           }
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c6eb85e..424cfc9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ Pull-request and protected-main checks run through the repository's native
 `pull_request_target`, never grants write permissions, and never exposes a
 deployment environment to pull-request code.
 
-## Keycloak 26.7.3 cohort restore evidence
+## Keycloak cohort restore evidence
 
 Before the five-realm Keycloak release, dispatch protected workflow `Verify
 Keycloak Cohort Restore Compatibility` with the exact lowercase current
@@ -372,7 +372,10 @@ Keycloak protected-main SHA. There is no mutable rollout repository variable.
 The workflow resolves `Makepad-fr/keycloak` main independently, checks out that
 exact release, and verifies its pinned
 `dhi.io/keycloak:26-debian13@sha256:fab1484b1762fd1269e63a40f068ec73ea75b498eaaa5d02f62f022a5d00ff0f`
-runtime and upstream version `26.7.3`.
+runtime and upstream version `26.7.3`, or the reviewed `26.8.1` pair
+`dhi.io/keycloak:26.8.1-debian13@sha256:e32c433741f6c253fd410ad209f548cb962746b76f7bc19a2fe34466cbd8cc12`.
+`scripts/read-keycloak-runtime.py` rejects unknown, duplicate, missing, or
+mismatched pins before capture. Build, restore and receipt use that same pair.
 
 The protected release runner captures fresh custom-format, no-owner,
 no-privilege dumps of exactly `keycloak_catwlk`, `keycloak_makepad`,
diff --git a/scripts/read-keycloak-runtime.py b/scripts/read-keycloak-runtime.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b9898de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/read-keycloak-runtime.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Resolve only reviewed immutable runtime pins from an exact Keycloak checkout."""
+import argparse
+import importlib.util
+from pathlib import Path
+
+spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location("cohort_evidence", Path(__file__).with_name("verify-keycloak-cohort-evidence.py"))
+contract = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+spec.loader.exec_module(contract)
+
+
+def read_runtime(path):
+    fields = {}
+    for line in Path(path).read_text().splitlines():
+        key, sep, value = line.partition("=")
+        if key in ("KEYCLOAK_IMAGE", "KEYCLOAK_UPSTREAM_VERSION"):
+            if key in fields or not sep:
+                raise ValueError("Runtime pin is duplicated or malformed")
+            fields[key] = value
+    image = fields.get("KEYCLOAK_IMAGE")
+    version = fields.get("KEYCLOAK_UPSTREAM_VERSION")
+    if image not in contract.REVIEWED_RUNTIMES or contract.REVIEWED_RUNTIMES[image] != version:
+        raise ValueError("Runtime image/version pair has not been reviewed")
+    return image, version
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__)
+    parser.add_argument("config", type=Path)
+    parser.add_argument("--field", choices=("image", "version", "github-env"), required=True)
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    try:
+        image, version = read_runtime(args.config)
+    except (OSError, ValueError) as error:
+        parser.exit(1, str(error) + "\n")
+    if args.field == "github-env":
+        print("COHORT_KEYCLOAK_IMAGE=" + image)
+        print("COHORT_KEYCLOAK_VERSION=" + version)
+    else:
+        print(image if args.field == "image" else version)
diff --git a/scripts/restore-keycloak-cohort-backups.sh b/scripts/restore-keycloak-cohort-backups.sh
index 322158e..154ead8 100755
--- a/scripts/restore-keycloak-cohort-backups.sh
+++ b/scripts/restore-keycloak-cohort-backups.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ backup_dir=$1
 result_dir=$2
 keycloak_source=$3
 catwlk_image=$4
-keycloak_image='dhi.io/keycloak:26-debian13@sha256:fab1484b1762fd1269e63a40f068ec73ea75b498eaaa5d02f62f022a5d00ff0f'
+keycloak_image=$(python3 "$(dirname "$0")/read-keycloak-runtime.py" "${keycloak_source}/envs/production/.env.keycloak" --field image)
 postgres_image='postgres:16-alpine@sha256:57c72fd2a128e416c7fcc499958864df5301e940bca0a56f58fddf30ffc07777'
 run_id=${GITHUB_RUN_ID:-1}
 run_attempt=${GITHUB_RUN_ATTEMPT:-1}
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ PY
     [[ $(docker inspect "${active_keycloak_container}" --format '{{.State.Running}}') == true ]] || break
     sleep 1
   done
-  [[ "${ready}" == 1 ]] || { docker logs "${active_keycloak_container}" >&2; echo "Keycloak 26.7.3 did not become ready for restored ${slug}." >&2; exit 1; }
+  [[ "${ready}" == 1 ]] || { docker logs "${active_keycloak_container}" >&2; echo "Reviewed Keycloak runtime did not become ready for restored ${slug}." >&2; exit 1; }
   fingerprint_configuration after
   fingerprints=()
   for category in $(printf '%s\n' "${!category_tables[@]}" | sort); do
diff --git a/scripts/test-keycloak-cohort-evidence.sh b/scripts/test-keycloak-cohort-evidence.sh
index 30b6ac2..e8d1e8e 100755
--- a/scripts/test-keycloak-cohort-evidence.sh
+++ b/scripts/test-keycloak-cohort-evidence.sh
@@ -142,4 +142,6 @@ if python3 "${validator}" "${oversized}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
+python3 "$(dirname "$0")/test-read-keycloak-runtime.py"
+
 echo "Keycloak cohort evidence contract tests passed."
diff --git a/scripts/test-read-keycloak-runtime.py b/scripts/test-read-keycloak-runtime.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a11ec2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/test-read-keycloak-runtime.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Runtime selection must reject arbitrary images before restore work starts."""
+import importlib.util
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+from pathlib import Path
+
+spec = importlib.util.spec_from_file_location('runtime', Path(__file__).with_name('read-keycloak-runtime.py'))
+runtime = importlib.util.module_from_spec(spec)
+spec.loader.exec_module(runtime)
+
+
+class RuntimeTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def read(self, contents):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as directory:
+            path = Path(directory) / 'runtime.env'
+            path.write_text(contents)
+            return runtime.read_runtime(path)
+
+    def test_reviewed_pairs(self):
+        for image, version in runtime.contract.REVIEWED_RUNTIMES.items():
+            with self.subTest(version=version):
+                self.assertEqual((image, version), self.read(f'IGNORED=value\nKEYCLOAK_IMAGE={image}\nKEYCLOAK_UPSTREAM_VERSION={version}\n'))
+
+    def test_reject_unreviewed_or_ambiguous_config(self):
+        image, version = next(iter(runtime.contract.REVIEWED_RUNTIMES.items()))
+        valid = f'KEYCLOAK_IMAGE={image}\nKEYCLOAK_UPSTREAM_VERSION={version}\n'
+        for contents in ('', f'KEYCLOAK_IMAGE={image}\n', valid.replace(version, '99.0.0'),
+                         valid.replace(image, 'dhi.io/keycloak:latest'),
+                         valid + f'KEYCLOAK_IMAGE={image}\n',
+                         valid + f'KEYCLOAK_UPSTREAM_VERSION={version}\n',
+                         valid.replace(image, image + ' ')):
+            with self.subTest(contents=contents), self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+                self.read(contents)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()
diff --git a/scripts/validate-postgres-config.sh b/scripts/validate-postgres-config.sh
index a323124..cd49c1f 100755
--- a/scripts/validate-postgres-config.sh
+++ b/scripts/validate-postgres-config.sh
@@ -868,7 +868,9 @@ for required in (
     "makepad.keycloak-cohort-restore-evidence.v2",
     "restored-databases-compatible",
     "dhi.io/keycloak:26-debian13@sha256:fab1484b1762fd1269e63a40f068ec73ea75b498eaaa5d02f62f022a5d00ff0f",
-    "KEYCLOAK_UPSTREAM_VERSION=26.7.3",
+    "read-keycloak-runtime.py",
+    "COHORT_KEYCLOAK_IMAGE",
+    "COHORT_KEYCLOAK_VERSION",
     "restore-keycloak-cohort-backups.sh",
     "verify-keycloak-cohort-evidence.py",
 ):