diff --git a/.changeset/24652-report-v18-upgrade-text.md b/.changeset/24652-report-v18-upgrade-text.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..49839d91ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/24652-report-v18-upgrade-text.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/plugin-security': patch
+---
+
+fix(plugin-security): the boot report's unnamed-grant line says what 18.0 supports for a v17 database, not a command 18.0 refuses
+
+Clause-②: no
+
+- **The error line for `sys_user_permission_set` grants whose `permission_set` is empty** used to end with a fix: plan with `os migrate organization-ownership --out plan.json`, then run `os migrate organization-ownership --apply --backup-taken --plan-file plan.json`, restart, with a warning that granting the set again by name before it runs leaves a second grant for the ceremony to report. 18.0 refuses that command on every database, so the operator was sent to a refusal. The line now ends with the sentence the drop-gate refusal of `os migrate apply --allow-destructive` carries: "18.0 supports fresh installs only and does not upgrade a v17 database: keep a v17 database on a 17.x release until the 18.x release that carries the upgrade path."
+- **Unchanged:** the count, the "permission_set is empty" fact, the ADR-0131 D4 reason ("each confers nothing"), "Nothing was changed.", the structured meta, the log level and the report's result. Such a grant still confers nothing and is still listed.
+- **Removed from the line:** the two command steps and the restart step, and the advice about granting the set again by name. They described the 18.x upgrade ceremony, which 18.0 does not carry.
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/catalog-reference-report.test.ts b/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/catalog-reference-report.test.ts
index c2c619a3fe..20401e850b 100644
--- a/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/catalog-reference-report.test.ts
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/catalog-reference-report.test.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@
  * name it stay.
  *
  * Every assertion reads the structured result, never the log's wording; the
- * wiring pin finds the plugin's lines by their structured meta.
+ * wiring pin finds the plugin's lines by their structured meta. One pin reads
+ * wording on purpose: the unnamed-grant line is 18.0 release text an operator
+ * acts on, and that release says one sentence about a v17 database everywhere.
  */
 
 import { describe, it, expect, afterEach, vi } from 'vitest';
@@ -320,6 +322,44 @@ describe('[ADR-0131 D4] the catalog reference report — references whose names
   });
 });
 
+describe('[ADR-0131 D4] the unnamed-grant line says what 18.0 supports for a v17 database', () => {
+  // The one wording pin in this file. 18.0 supports fresh installs only and its
+  // `os migrate organization-ownership` refuses plan and apply on every
+  // database, so the line an operator reads at boot must not send them to it;
+  // it carries the sentence the drop-gate refusal of `os migrate apply
+  // --allow-destructive` carries (the boot refusal and the command's own
+  // refusal say the same in their own terms). Everything else in the line is
+  // the report's own: the count, the field, the D4 reason, and that nothing was
+  // changed.
+  const V17_SENTENCE = '18.0 supports fresh installs only and does not upgrade a v17 database: keep a v17 database on a '
+    + '17.x release until the 18.x release that carries the upgrade path.';
+
+  it('names the count, the empty field, the reason and "Nothing was changed", then the 18.0 sentence, and prescribes no command', async () => {
+    const b = await boot();
+    await insertUser(b, 'usr_a');
+    await insertUser(b, 'usr_b');
+    await insertUnnamedGrants(b, [
+      { id: 'g_one', user_id: 'usr_a', organization_id: ORG },
+      { id: 'g_two', user_id: 'usr_b', organization_id: ORG },
+    ]);
+    const logger = { info: vi.fn(), warn: vi.fn(), error: vi.fn() };
+    await reportCatalogReferences(b.engine as any, { catalog: b.catalog, logger });
+
+    // Anti-vacuity: the report logged exactly the unnamed-grant line, found by its meta.
+    expect(logger.error).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    const [message, , meta] = logger.error.mock.calls[0] as [string, unknown, { count: number }];
+    expect(meta.count).toBe(2);
+
+    expect(message).toContain(
+      '[security] 2 sys_user_permission_set grant(s) name no permission set (permission_set is empty), '
+      + 'so each confers nothing (ADR-0131 D4). Nothing was changed. ' + V17_SENTENCE,
+    );
+    expect(message.endsWith(V17_SENTENCE), 'the sentence closes the line').toBe(true);
+    // The refused command and every step of it are gone, not merely qualified.
+    expect(message).not.toMatch(/organization-ownership|os migrate|--out|--apply|--plan-file|--backup-taken|plan\.json|ceremony/);
+  });
+});
+
 describe('[ADR-0131 D4] a removed declaration is reported; re-adding it clears the report', () => {
   /** A member granted the auditor set directly and assigned the field-lead position that binds it. */
   const seedHolder = async (b: Booted) => {
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/catalog-reference-report.ts b/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/catalog-reference-report.ts
index 8683807b93..14fa2de804 100644
--- a/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/catalog-reference-report.ts
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-security/src/catalog-reference-report.ts
@@ -433,11 +433,9 @@ function logReport(report: CatalogReferenceReport, logger?: CatalogReferenceRepo
     logError(
       logger,
       `[security] ${unnamed.count} ${GRANT_OBJECT} grant(s) name no permission set (${GRANT_SET_NAME_FIELD} is ` +
-        'empty), so each confers nothing (ADR-0131 D4). Nothing was changed. Fix: run the v18 ceremony. Plan it ' +
-        'first, os migrate organization-ownership --out plan.json, and review the file it writes; then run ' +
-        'os migrate organization-ownership --apply --backup-taken --plan-file plan.json, which executes that plan: ' +
-        'it names each legacy grant from its retired id and lists the ones it cannot name. Then restart. Granting ' +
-        'the set again by name before it runs makes a second grant the ceremony will report, not name.',
+        'empty), so each confers nothing (ADR-0131 D4). Nothing was changed. 18.0 supports fresh installs only and ' +
+        'does not upgrade a v17 database: keep a v17 database on a 17.x release until the 18.x release that carries ' +
+        'the upgrade path.',
       { count: unnamed.count, organizations: unnamed.organizations },
     );
   }