diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/build-push.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/build-push.yaml
index 67ce4e7..1ee2a83 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/build-push.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/build-push.yaml
@@ -84,6 +84,20 @@ jobs:
         id: bust
         run: echo "value=$(date -u +%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ)-${{ gitea.run_id }}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
+      # The minimum PHP version this build must ship: php.net's current release for
+      # the branch (over HTTPS). The Dockerfile fails if Remi gave us anything older,
+      # so lagging mirrors or replayed repo metadata can't ship a vulnerable PHP.
+      - name: Resolve current PHP release from php.net
+        id: phpmin
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          v="${{ matrix.phpver }}"; branch="${v:0:1}.${v:1}"
+          json=$(curl -fsS --retry 5 --max-time 60 "https://www.php.net/releases/index.php?json&max=1&version=${branch}")
+          min=$(printf '%s' "$json" | python3 -c 'import json,sys; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print(next(iter(d)) if isinstance(d,dict) and d else "")')
+          if [ -z "$min" ]; then echo "::error::no php.net release found for ${branch}"; exit 1; fi
+          echo "php.net current ${branch}: ${min}"
+          echo "min=${min}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
       - name: Login to Gitea
         uses: docker/login-action@v3
         with:
@@ -99,6 +113,7 @@ jobs:
           build-args: |
             PHPVER=${{ matrix.phpver }}
             CACHE_BUST=${{ steps.bust.outputs.value }}
+            EXPECT_PHP_MIN=${{ steps.phpmin.outputs.min }}
           tags: |
             repo.anhonesthost.net/cloud-hosting-platform/cac:php${{ matrix.phpver }}
             ${{ matrix.phpver == '85' && 'repo.anhonesthost.net/cloud-hosting-platform/cac:latest' || '' }}
@@ -129,6 +144,20 @@ jobs:
         id: bust
         run: echo "value=$(date -u +%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ)-${{ gitea.run_id }}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
+      # The minimum PHP version this build must ship: php.net's current release for
+      # the branch (over HTTPS). The Dockerfile fails if Remi gave us anything older,
+      # so lagging mirrors or replayed repo metadata can't ship a vulnerable PHP.
+      - name: Resolve current PHP release from php.net
+        id: phpmin
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          v="${{ matrix.phpver }}"; branch="${v:0:1}.${v:1}"
+          json=$(curl -fsS --retry 5 --max-time 60 "https://www.php.net/releases/index.php?json&max=1&version=${branch}")
+          min=$(printf '%s' "$json" | python3 -c 'import json,sys; d=json.load(sys.stdin); print(next(iter(d)) if isinstance(d,dict) and d else "")')
+          if [ -z "$min" ]; then echo "::error::no php.net release found for ${branch}"; exit 1; fi
+          echo "php.net current ${branch}: ${min}"
+          echo "min=${min}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
       - name: Login to Gitea
         uses: docker/login-action@v3
         with:
@@ -145,6 +174,7 @@ jobs:
           build-args: |
             PHPVER=${{ matrix.phpver }}
             CACHE_BUST=${{ steps.bust.outputs.value }}
+            EXPECT_PHP_MIN=${{ steps.phpmin.outputs.min }}
           tags: |
             repo.anhonesthost.net/cloud-hosting-platform/cac-fpm:php${{ matrix.phpver }}
             ${{ matrix.phpver == '85' && 'repo.anhonesthost.net/cloud-hosting-platform/cac-fpm:latest' || '' }}
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index ea01e70..10046c8 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ ARG PHPVER=83
 # never be a layer-cache hit, so every build gets the repos' current packages.
 # Local builds: --build-arg CACHE_BUST=$(date +%s) or --no-cache.
 ARG CACHE_BUST=
+# php.net's current release for this branch (CI); the build fails on older PHP.
+ARG EXPECT_PHP_MIN=
 
 # Install repos, update, install only needed packages, clean up in one layer
 RUN dnf install -y \
@@ -11,8 +13,12 @@ RUN dnf install -y \
       https://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-10.rpm && \
     # Use Remi's origin, not the mirrorlist: during the 2026-10-21 PHP security
     # release the mirrors lagged hours behind (still 8.2.34 when 8.2.35 was out),
-    # so builds shipped unpatched PHP. Packages stay GPG-checked (gpgcheck=1).
-    sed -i -e 's/^#baseurl=/baseurl=/' -e 's/^mirrorlist=/#mirrorlist=/' /etc/yum.repos.d/remi*.repo && \
+    # so builds shipped unpatched PHP. HTTPS first; plain http only as a fallback
+    # because the origin's HTTPS dropped/timed out under that day's load. A
+    # replayed (old) http index can't ship old PHP: packages stay GPG-checked and
+    # the EXPECT_PHP_MIN gate below fails the build on anything older than php.net.
+    sed -i -e 's|^#baseurl=http://\(.*\)$|baseurl=https://\1 http://\1|' -e 's/^mirrorlist=/#mirrorlist=/' /etc/yum.repos.d/remi*.repo && \
+    printf 'retries=10\ntimeout=60\n' >> /etc/dnf/dnf.conf && \
     dnf update -y && \
     dnf install -y httpd mod_ssl openssl wget procps cronie iproute postgresql-devel microdnf less git \
       nano rsync unzip zip mariadb bind-utils jq patch nc tree dos2unix && \
@@ -31,6 +37,11 @@ RUN dnf install -y ImageMagick ImageMagick-libs ImageMagick-heic && \
 RUN openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout /etc/pki/tls/private/localhost.key -x509 -days 3650 -subj "/CN=localhost" -out /etc/pki/tls/certs/localhost.crt && \
     mkdir -p /run/php-fpm/ && \
     /scripts/install-php$PHPVER.sh && \
+    # CI passes php.net's current release for the branch; never ship older PHP.
+    if [ -n "$EXPECT_PHP_MIN" ]; then \
+      php -r 'exit(version_compare(PHP_VERSION, getenv("EXPECT_PHP_MIN"), ">=") ? 0 : 1);' || \
+        { echo "FATAL: built PHP $(php -r 'echo PHP_VERSION;') is older than php.net $EXPECT_PHP_MIN"; exit 1; }; \
+    else echo "WARNING: no EXPECT_PHP_MIN (local build) - PHP version not gated"; fi && \
     echo "PHP version report:" && php -v && rpm -q php-cli php-common php-fpm && \
     rm -rf /tmp/*
 
diff --git a/Dockerfile.fpm b/Dockerfile.fpm
index 0c16f90..3733d3f 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.fpm
+++ b/Dockerfile.fpm
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ ARG PHPVER=83
 # never be a layer-cache hit, so every build gets the repos' current packages.
 # Local builds: --build-arg CACHE_BUST=$(date +%s) or --no-cache.
 ARG CACHE_BUST=
+# php.net's current release for this branch (CI); the build fails on older PHP.
+ARG EXPECT_PHP_MIN=
 
 # Install repos, update, install only needed packages (no httpd/mod_ssl), clean up in one layer
 RUN dnf install -y \
@@ -11,8 +13,12 @@ RUN dnf install -y \
       https://rpms.remirepo.net/enterprise/remi-release-10.rpm && \
     # Use Remi's origin, not the mirrorlist: during the 2026-10-21 PHP security
     # release the mirrors lagged hours behind (still 8.2.34 when 8.2.35 was out),
-    # so builds shipped unpatched PHP. Packages stay GPG-checked (gpgcheck=1).
-    sed -i -e 's/^#baseurl=/baseurl=/' -e 's/^mirrorlist=/#mirrorlist=/' /etc/yum.repos.d/remi*.repo && \
+    # so builds shipped unpatched PHP. HTTPS first; plain http only as a fallback
+    # because the origin's HTTPS dropped/timed out under that day's load. A
+    # replayed (old) http index can't ship old PHP: packages stay GPG-checked and
+    # the EXPECT_PHP_MIN gate below fails the build on anything older than php.net.
+    sed -i -e 's|^#baseurl=http://\(.*\)$|baseurl=https://\1 http://\1|' -e 's/^mirrorlist=/#mirrorlist=/' /etc/yum.repos.d/remi*.repo && \
+    printf 'retries=10\ntimeout=60\n' >> /etc/dnf/dnf.conf && \
     dnf update -y && \
     dnf install -y openssl wget procps cronie iproute postgresql-devel microdnf less git \
       nano rsync unzip zip mariadb bind-utils jq patch nc tree dos2unix fcgi && \
@@ -30,6 +36,11 @@ RUN dnf install -y ImageMagick ImageMagick-libs ImageMagick-heic && \
 # Create needed dirs, install PHP, clean up (no SSL cert, no httpd)
 RUN mkdir -p /run/php-fpm/ && \
     /scripts/install-php$PHPVER.sh && \
+    # CI passes php.net's current release for the branch; never ship older PHP.
+    if [ -n "$EXPECT_PHP_MIN" ]; then \
+      php -r 'exit(version_compare(PHP_VERSION, getenv("EXPECT_PHP_MIN"), ">=") ? 0 : 1);' || \
+        { echo "FATAL: built PHP $(php -r 'echo PHP_VERSION;') is older than php.net $EXPECT_PHP_MIN"; exit 1; }; \
+    else echo "WARNING: no EXPECT_PHP_MIN (local build) - PHP version not gated"; fi && \
     echo "PHP version report:" && php -v && rpm -q php-cli php-common php-fpm && \
     rm -rf /tmp/*