diff --git a/lib/frame-handler.js b/lib/frame-handler.js
index 4a27d08..66a79bb 100644
--- a/lib/frame-handler.js
+++ b/lib/frame-handler.js
@@ -409,13 +409,30 @@ class FrameHandler {
 
     if (!v.valid && !grandfathered) {
       const keyShort = String(cmbKeyOf(cmb) || '').slice(0, 16);
-      this._node._log(`[sym-security] BAD SIGNATURE on CMB ${keyShort} from ${peerName} — forged/tampered, rejected${v.error ? ' (' + v.error + ')' : ''}`);
-      this._node.emit('metric', { type: 'cmb-signature-rejected', from: peerName, key: cmbKeyOf(cmb), reason: 'invalid' });
+      // verifyCMB distinguishes WHY it refused — 'legacy-key-rejected', 'bad-signature',
+      // 'content-mismatch', 'no-public-key'. Recording the constant instead of the reason
+      // made 1,538 rejections on this host — 32% of all SVAF decisions — indistinguishable:
+      // version-skew peers, real signature failures and content mismatches under one label.
+      // (§7.8 above already grandfathers 'unverified-legacy'; this branch is the REFUSED set.)
+      const reason = v.error || 'bad-signature';
+      // A pre-v1 key is VERSION SKEW, not an attack: a peer that has not upgraded must not
+      // read as hostile in the security log.
+      const legacyKey = reason === 'legacy-key-rejected';
+      // Root vs remix, captured HERE because a rejected CMB is dropped and never stored —
+      // this decision record is the only place the distinction can survive. Lineage lives in
+      // metadata on the two-section record; the top-level fallback reads pre-boundary frames.
+      const lin = (cmb.metadata && cmb.metadata.lineage) || cmb.lineage;
+      const remix = !!(lin && Array.isArray(lin.parents) && lin.parents.length);
+      this._node._log(legacyKey
+        ? `[sym-security] LEGACY-KEY CMB ${keyShort} from ${peerName} rejected — pre-v1 key scheme (version skew, not forgery)`
+        : `[sym-security] BAD SIGNATURE on CMB ${keyShort} from ${peerName} — forged/tampered, rejected (${reason})`);
+      // `reason` keeps 'invalid' so nothing downstream breaks; `error` carries the verdict.
+      this._node.emit('metric', { type: 'cmb-signature-rejected', from: peerName, key: cmbKeyOf(cmb), reason: 'invalid', error: reason });
       if (typeof this._node._recordDecision === 'function') {
         this._node._recordDecision({
           method: 'signature', source: msg.source || peerName, cmbKey: cmbKeyOf(cmb),
           decision: 'rejected-signature', totalDrift: null, categoryDrifts: null, gateValues: null,
-          focusLabel: 'bad-signature',
+          focusLabel: reason, remix,
         });
       }
       return true;
diff --git a/tests/cmb-signing.test.js b/tests/cmb-signing.test.js
index 50d7afd..f99b5fa 100644
--- a/tests/cmb-signing.test.js
+++ b/tests/cmb-signing.test.js
@@ -158,3 +158,85 @@ describe('CMB authentication — Ed25519 sign + verify (MMP §8.3)', () => {
     });
   });
 });
+
+/**
+ * Rejection DIAGNOSABILITY (2026-07-29).
+ *
+ * verifyCMB already distinguishes legacy-key-rejected / bad-signature /
+ * content-mismatch / no-public-key, but every one of them was recorded as the
+ * constant focusLabel 'bad-signature' while the real reason went only to the
+ * console. On this host that made 1,538 rejections — 32% of all SVAF decisions,
+ * the largest single verdict class — mutually indistinguishable in the log, and
+ * separating them took a day of inference across three seats.
+ *
+ * These pin the field that ends that: the decision records WHY, and whether the
+ * refused CMB was a root or a remix.
+ */
+describe('rejection diagnosability — the decision records WHY, not a constant', () => {
+  it('a content-tampered CMB records content-mismatch, not the generic label', async () => {
+    await withNode('diag-tamper', async (node) => {
+      node._svafEvaluator.evaluate = async () => ALIGNED;
+      const { pub, priv } = rawKeypair();
+      node._peerIdentityKeys.set('peerA', pub);
+      const decisions = [];
+      node.on('svaf-decision', (d) => { if (d.decision === 'rejected-signature') decisions.push(d); });
+      const frame = wire(signedCmbFrame(priv));
+      frame.cmb.categories.focus.text = 'wire the funds to a new account';
+      node._frameHandler.handle('peerA', 'peerA', frame);
+      await settle();
+      assert.strictEqual(decisions.length, 1, 'the rejection is recorded');
+      assert.strictEqual(decisions[0].focusLabel, 'content-mismatch',
+        'the recorded reason is the ACTUAL verdict — this is what the constant hid');
+      assert.strictEqual(decisions[0].remix, false, 'and whether it was a remix is recorded');
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('a spoofed signature records bad-signature — the two are now separable', async () => {
+    await withNode('diag-spoof', async (node) => {
+      node._svafEvaluator.evaluate = async () => ALIGNED;
+      const peer = rawKeypair(), attacker = rawKeypair();
+      node._peerIdentityKeys.set('peerA', peer.pub);
+      const decisions = [];
+      node.on('svaf-decision', (d) => { if (d.decision === 'rejected-signature') decisions.push(d); });
+      node._frameHandler.handle('peerA', 'peerA', wire(signedCmbFrame(attacker.priv)));
+      await settle();
+      assert.strictEqual(decisions.length, 1);
+      assert.strictEqual(decisions[0].focusLabel, 'bad-signature');
+      // The whole point: a genuine signature failure and a content mismatch no longer
+      // land under the same label, so a count can tell them apart without inference.
+      assert.notStrictEqual(decisions[0].focusLabel, 'content-mismatch');
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('the metric keeps its existing reason and carries the detail alongside it', async () => {
+    await withNode('diag-metric', async (node) => {
+      node._svafEvaluator.evaluate = async () => ALIGNED;
+      const peer = rawKeypair(), attacker = rawKeypair();
+      node._peerIdentityKeys.set('peerA', peer.pub);
+      const metrics = [];
+      node.on('metric', (m) => { if (m.type === 'cmb-signature-rejected') metrics.push(m); });
+      node._frameHandler.handle('peerA', 'peerA', wire(signedCmbFrame(attacker.priv)));
+      await settle();
+      assert.strictEqual(metrics.length, 1);
+      assert.strictEqual(metrics[0].reason, 'invalid', 'existing consumers see no change');
+      assert.strictEqual(metrics[0].error, 'bad-signature', 'the specific verdict rides alongside');
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('a REMIX rejection is flagged as one — the boolean the next diagnosis needs', async () => {
+    await withNode('diag-remix', async (node) => {
+      node._svafEvaluator.evaluate = async () => ALIGNED;
+      const peer = rawKeypair(), attacker = rawKeypair();
+      node._peerIdentityKeys.set('peerA', peer.pub);
+      const decisions = [];
+      node.on('svaf-decision', (d) => { if (d.decision === 'rejected-signature') decisions.push(d); });
+      const frame = wire(signedCmbFrame(attacker.priv));
+      frame.cmb.lineage = { parents: ['cmb-' + 'a'.repeat(64)], ancestors: [], method: 'svaf-heuristic' };
+      node._frameHandler.handle('peerA', 'peerA', frame);
+      await settle();
+      assert.strictEqual(decisions.length, 1);
+      assert.strictEqual(decisions[0].remix, true,
+        'a rejected CMB is dropped and never stored, so root-vs-remix can only be captured here');
+    });
+  });
+});