diff --git a/deploy/stack-deploy.sh b/deploy/stack-deploy.sh
index 3879d79..0b79188 100755
--- a/deploy/stack-deploy.sh
+++ b/deploy/stack-deploy.sh
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ GLOBAL_ENV="$DIR/deploy/global.env"
 
 # ── Pre-flight: ensure local checkout is in sync with Gitea ─────────────────
 # Prevents deploying from a stale/diverged local tree (see incident 2026-08-26).
-"$DIR/deploy/git-guard.sh" || { echo "ERROR: git-guard check failed. Deploy aborted."; exit 1; }
+# Invoked via `bash` explicitly so the tracked file's exec bit doesn't matter.
+bash "$DIR/deploy/git-guard.sh" || { echo "ERROR: git-guard check failed. Deploy aborted."; exit 1; }
 
 # ── Locate compose file(s) ──────────────────────────────────────────────────