diff --git a/src/application/ClientConfigPath.ts b/src/application/ClientConfigPath.ts
index 67e634b01b..52c1091bb8 100644
--- a/src/application/ClientConfigPath.ts
+++ b/src/application/ClientConfigPath.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { lstat, realpath } from "node:fs/promises";
-import { basename, dirname, join, resolve } from "node:path";
+import { basename, dirname, join } from "node:path";
+import { absoluteCallerPath } from "../filesystem/callerPath.js";
 
 interface ClientConfigPathStats {
   readonly uid?: number;
@@ -70,9 +71,9 @@ const resolveOwnedConfigSymlink = async (
 const canonicalRegularConfigPath = async (
   requestedPath: string,
   fileSystem: ClientConfigPathFileSystem,
-): Promise<string> => {
+): Promise<string | undefined> => {
   if (fileSystem.realpath === undefined) return requestedPath;
-  let ancestor = resolve(requestedPath);
+  let ancestor = absoluteCallerPath(requestedPath);
   const missing: string[] = [];
   while (true) {
     try {
@@ -80,6 +81,8 @@ const canonicalRegularConfigPath = async (
     } catch (cause: unknown) {
       if (!isAbsentPath(cause) || dirname(ancestor) === ancestor)
         return requestedPath;
+      // An absent directory before '..' cannot establish the selected parent.
+      if (basename(ancestor) === "..") return undefined;
       missing.unshift(basename(ancestor));
       ancestor = dirname(ancestor);
     }
diff --git a/src/application/ClientConfigurationPublication.ts b/src/application/ClientConfigurationPublication.ts
index a2af20999d..1fb69059d9 100644
--- a/src/application/ClientConfigurationPublication.ts
+++ b/src/application/ClientConfigurationPublication.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { basename, dirname, join, resolve, sep } from "node:path";
 
 import { AnalysisCleanupLease } from "../artifacts/AnalysisCleanupLease.js";
 import { fileHandleMatchesBytes } from "../filesystem/fileHandleMatchesBytes.js";
+import { absoluteCallerPath } from "../filesystem/callerPath.js";
 import { OwnedFileHandle } from "../filesystem/OwnedFileHandle.js";
 import { OwnedStagedOutput } from "../filesystem/OwnedStagedOutput.js";
 import {
@@ -290,10 +291,10 @@ const isParentAliasRetarget = async (
     );
   }
   if (requestedStats.isSymbolicLink()) return false;
-  const requestedParent = dirname(resolve(requestedPath));
+  const requestedParent = dirname(absoluteCallerPath(requestedPath));
   try {
     const canonicalParent = await realpath(requestedParent);
-    return resolve(canonicalParent) !== requestedParent;
+    return canonicalParent !== requestedParent;
   } catch (cause: unknown) {
     void cause;
     return false;
diff --git a/tests/boundary/filesystem/clientConfigurationTransactions.test.ts b/tests/boundary/filesystem/clientConfigurationTransactions.test.ts
index f00eaf6fb2..6802427ada 100644
--- a/tests/boundary/filesystem/clientConfigurationTransactions.test.ts
+++ b/tests/boundary/filesystem/clientConfigurationTransactions.test.ts
@@ -2,9 +2,11 @@ import {
   chmod,
   copyFile,
   lstat,
+  mkdir,
   readFile,
   realpath,
   rm,
+  symlink,
   writeFile,
 } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { constants as fsConstants } from "node:fs";
@@ -25,6 +27,43 @@ import {
 import { createTestTempDirectory } from "../../fixtures/temporaryDirectory.js";
 import { ClientConfigurationPublication } from "../../../src/application/ClientConfigurationPublication.js";
 
+it
+  .skipIf(process.platform === "win32")
+  .each(["direct", "parent", "lexical-parent"] as const)(
+  "keeps the selected file after a parent alias retarget: %s",
+  async (variant) => {
+    const parentTraversal = variant !== "direct";
+    const root = await createTestTempDirectory("rea-config-retarget-");
+    const first = join(root, "first");
+    const second = variant === "lexical-parent" ? root : join(root, "second");
+    for (const directory of [first, second]) {
+      await mkdir(join(directory, "child"), { recursive: true });
+      await writeFile(join(directory, "config.json"), "original");
+    }
+    const alias = join(root, "link");
+    await symlink(parentTraversal ? join(first, "child") : first, alias);
+    const requestedPath = `${alias}/${parentTraversal ? "../" : ""}config.json`;
+    const selected = join(first, "config.json");
+    const state = await lstat(selected);
+    await rm(alias);
+    await symlink(parentTraversal ? join(second, "child") : second, alias);
+    const publication = await ClientConfigurationPublication.write(
+      selected,
+      "updated",
+      "original",
+      undefined,
+      { requestedPath, state },
+    );
+    await publication.verify(async () => {
+      await publication.assertCurrent();
+      expect(await readFile(selected, "utf8")).toBe("updated");
+      expect(await readFile(join(second, "config.json"), "utf8")).toBe(
+        "original",
+      );
+    });
+  },
+);
+
 const failedVerificationFileSystem = (
   failure: "verification" | "recovery",
 ): UninstallFileSystem => {
diff --git a/tests/boundary/filesystem/setupConfig.test.ts b/tests/boundary/filesystem/setupConfig.test.ts
index ea21eec1b3..94117bc95f 100644
--- a/tests/boundary/filesystem/setupConfig.test.ts
+++ b/tests/boundary/filesystem/setupConfig.test.ts
@@ -121,6 +121,42 @@ it.skipIf(process.platform === "win32")(
   },
 );
 
+it.skipIf(process.platform === "win32").each([false, true])(
+  "preserves filesystem parent traversal when the configuration exists=%s",
+  async (exists) => {
+    const root = await createTestTempDirectory("rea-config-parent-traversal-");
+    const selectedDirectory = join(root, "selected");
+    await mkdir(join(selectedDirectory, "child"), { recursive: true });
+    await symlink(join(selectedDirectory, "child"), join(root, "link"), "dir");
+    const selected = join(selectedDirectory, "config.json");
+    const unrelated = join(root, "config.json");
+    const original = '{"theme":"keep"}\n';
+    await writeFile(unrelated, original);
+    if (exists) await writeFile(selected, original);
+    const requested = `${root}/link/../config.json`;
+    expect(await resolveClientConfigTransactionPath(requested)).toBe(selected);
+    expect(
+      await configureClientConfiguration({
+        name: "cursor",
+        format: "json",
+        configPath: requested,
+      }),
+    ).toMatchObject({ status: "configured" });
+    expect(JSON.parse(await readFile(selected, "utf8"))).toMatchObject({
+      mcpServers: { rea: { command: "npx" } },
+    });
+    expect(await readFile(unrelated, "utf8")).toBe(original);
+    await expect(lstat(`${unrelated}.rea.backup`)).rejects.toMatchObject({
+      code: "ENOENT",
+    });
+    if (exists)
+      expect(await readFile(`${selected}.rea.backup`, "utf8")).toBe(original);
+    expect(
+      await resolveClientConfigTransactionPath(`${root}/absent/../config.json`),
+    ).toBeUndefined();
+  },
+);
+
 describe("JSON client configuration transaction: writing configuration through safe paths", () => {
   it.skipIf(typeof process.getuid !== "function")(
     "rejects a symlink target not owned by the current user",