diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 6e18a01..ebe6af6 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2026.08.5
+2026.08.6
diff --git a/scripts/test-wpadmin-gate.py b/scripts/test-wpadmin-gate.py
index 16abc91..8900c7c 100644
--- a/scripts/test-wpadmin-gate.py
+++ b/scripts/test-wpadmin-gate.py
@@ -491,6 +491,25 @@ class UriNormalisation(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertIn('.php', acl_line,
                       'wp_admin_asset must exclude .php explicitly')
 
+    def test_wp_admin_asset_pattern_is_end_of_flags_guarded(self):
+        """A pattern starting with "(" makes HAProxy warn on EVERY load/reload:
+
+            parsing acl 'wp_admin_asset' : matching 'path_reg' for pattern
+            '(^|/)wp-admin/...' is likely a mistake ... Maybe you need to
+            remove the extraneous space before '('.
+
+        "--" is the end-of-flags marker HAProxy itself names as the fix. It is
+        cosmetic to matching but not to operations: an unsilenced warning on
+        every reload on every host trains people to skim past warnings, which
+        is how a real one gets missed. Assert the pattern is still the one we
+        think it is, so this can never pass by the pattern having been changed.
+        """
+        acl_line = require_rule(self.cfg, 'acl wp_admin_asset', 'wp_admin_asset ACL')
+        self.assertRegex(
+            acl_line, r'path_reg\s+--\s+\(',
+            'wp_admin_asset pattern begins with "(" and MUST be preceded by "--"')
+        self.assertIn('(^|/)wp-admin/(css|js|images)/', acl_line)
+
     def test_case_insensitive_acl_and_regsub_are_kept_in_sync(self):
         """A case-insensitive wp_admin_path with a case-sensitive regsub is an
         INFINITE REDIRECT LOOP: regsub finds no "/wp-admin/" in
diff --git a/templates/hap_listener.tpl b/templates/hap_listener.tpl
index 463afff..3035470 100644
--- a/templates/hap_listener.tpl
+++ b/templates/hap_listener.tpl
@@ -473,7 +473,22 @@ frontend web
     # substring, so it cannot cause the silent "login page renders unstyled"
     # regression that an extension allowlist would risk. Requires PCRE2, which
     # both the Debian (deployed) and Alpine haproxy builds have (+PCRE2).
-    acl wp_admin_asset     path_reg (^|/)wp-admin/(css|js|images)/(?!.*\.php).*$
+    #
+    # THE "--" IS LOAD-BEARING, DO NOT DELETE IT. HAProxy warns on any pattern
+    # whose first character is "(", because it cannot tell an intended regex
+    # from a fetch-argument list someone typo'd a space into:
+    #   parsing acl 'wp_admin_asset' : matching 'path_reg' for pattern
+    #   '(^|/)wp-admin/...' is likely a mistake and probably not what you want.
+    #   Maybe you need to remove the extraneous space before '('.
+    # "--" is HAProxy's documented end-of-flags marker and is the fix it names
+    # itself ("please insert '--' between the match and the pattern"). It changes
+    # no matching semantics -- verified live on whp02: /wp-admin/css/login.min.css
+    # still passes and /wp-admin/css/x.php is still gated, before and after.
+    # Left unsilenced this fires on EVERY config load and reload on every host,
+    # where it trains operators to skim past warnings and can bury a real one.
+    # wp_admin_path escapes the warning only because its "-i" flag happens to
+    # consume the flag slot first; it is not otherwise special.
+    acl wp_admin_asset     path_reg -- (^|/)wp-admin/(css|js|images)/(?!.*\.php).*$
     acl wp_gate_exempt     hdr(host),lower -f /etc/haproxy/wpadmin_gate_exempt.list
     # ENCODED SEPARATOR. percent-decode-unreserved deliberately does NOT decode
     # %2F -- "/" is a reserved character, and decoding it in the normalizer