diff --git a/src/application/ReferenceSourceImportPolicy.ts b/src/application/ReferenceSourceImportPolicy.ts
index e358c3636c..55a992d53a 100644
--- a/src/application/ReferenceSourceImportPolicy.ts
+++ b/src/application/ReferenceSourceImportPolicy.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import {
   type ReferenceSourceImportError,
   type ReferenceSourceImportOptions,
 } from "./ReferenceSourceImportTypes.js";
+import { rootFilesystemFailure } from "../reference/ReferenceSourceReaderErrors.js";
 
 /** Validated inputs ready for filesystem traversal. */
 export interface PreparedReferenceSourceImport {
@@ -27,21 +28,39 @@ const failure = (
   message,
 });
 
+const isAborted = (signal?: AbortSignal): boolean => signal?.aborted === true;
+
 const resolveRoot = async (
   requestedRoot: string,
+  signal?: AbortSignal,
 ): Promise<Result<string, ReferenceSourceImportError>> => {
+  if (isAborted(signal))
+    return err(failure("cancelled", "Reference source import cancelled"));
   try {
-    if (!(await stat(requestedRoot)).isDirectory())
+    const metadata = await stat(requestedRoot);
+    if (isAborted(signal))
+      return err(failure("cancelled", "Reference source import cancelled"));
+    if (!metadata.isDirectory())
       return err(
         failure("invalid-root", "Reference source root is not a directory"),
       );
     const canonicalRoot = await realpath(resolve(requestedRoot));
+    if (isAborted(signal))
+      return err(failure("cancelled", "Reference source import cancelled"));
     return ok(canonicalRoot);
   } catch (cause: unknown) {
-    void cause;
-    return err(
-      failure("invalid-root", "Reference source root could not be resolved"),
+    if (isAborted(signal))
+      return err(failure("cancelled", "Reference source import cancelled"));
+    const rootFailure = rootFilesystemFailure(
+      cause,
+      "Reference source root could not be resolved",
     );
+    if (rootFailure === undefined) throw cause;
+    const message =
+      rootFailure.code === "invalid-root"
+        ? "Reference source root could not be resolved"
+        : rootFailure.message;
+    return err(failure(rootFailure.code, message));
   }
 };
 
@@ -83,7 +102,7 @@ export const prepareReferenceSourceImport = async (
 ): Promise<
   Result<PreparedReferenceSourceImport, ReferenceSourceImportError>
 > => {
-  const root = await resolveRoot(options.root);
+  const root = await resolveRoot(options.root, options.signal);
   if (!root.ok) return root;
   try {
     return ok({
diff --git a/src/reference/ReferenceSourceReaderErrors.ts b/src/reference/ReferenceSourceReaderErrors.ts
index 0212d1a002..49877be725 100644
--- a/src/reference/ReferenceSourceReaderErrors.ts
+++ b/src/reference/ReferenceSourceReaderErrors.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,26 @@ export const filesystemFailureDetail = (
     : undefined;
 };
 
+/** Preserve root I/O detail while separating bad selections from access failures. */
+export const rootFilesystemFailure = (
+  cause: unknown,
+  operation: string,
+):
+  | {
+      readonly code: "invalid-root" | "io";
+      readonly message: string;
+    }
+  | undefined => {
+  if (!(cause instanceof Error)) return undefined;
+  const code: unknown = Reflect.get(cause, "code");
+  if (typeof code !== "string" || !FILESYSTEM_ERROR_CODES.has(code))
+    return undefined;
+  return {
+    code: code === "ENOENT" || code === "ENOTDIR" ? "invalid-root" : "io",
+    message: `${operation}: ${cause.message}`,
+  };
+};
+
 export const entryFailure = (
   ...[path, kind, code, message, size]: readonly [
     string,
diff --git a/src/reference/ReferenceSourceReaderValidate.ts b/src/reference/ReferenceSourceReaderValidate.ts
index a941f674bd..750426e1ab 100644
--- a/src/reference/ReferenceSourceReaderValidate.ts
+++ b/src/reference/ReferenceSourceReaderValidate.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import {
   cancelled,
   failure,
   filesystemFailureDetail,
+  rootFilesystemFailure,
 } from "./ReferenceSourceReaderErrors.js";
 import { isPathWithinRoot } from "../domain/localPath.js";
 import {
@@ -120,11 +121,11 @@ export const prepareRoot = async (
     return ok({ canonicalRoot, rootIdentity: canonicalMetadata });
   } catch (cause: unknown) {
     if (isAborted(signal)) return err(cancelled());
-    const message = filesystemFailureDetail(
+    const rootFailure = rootFilesystemFailure(
       cause,
       "Reference source root could not be resolved",
     );
-    if (message === undefined) throw cause;
-    return err(failure("invalid-root", `${message}: ${root}`));
+    if (rootFailure === undefined) throw cause;
+    return err(failure(rootFailure.code, `${rootFailure.message}: ${root}`));
   }
 };
diff --git a/tests/boundary/cli/referenceSourceImportStatus.test.ts b/tests/boundary/cli/referenceSourceImportStatus.test.ts
index dbc8bcaf1c..c15a1fe630 100644
--- a/tests/boundary/cli/referenceSourceImportStatus.test.ts
+++ b/tests/boundary/cli/referenceSourceImportStatus.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { readFile, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { chmod, mkdir, readFile, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 
 import { describe, expect } from "vitest";
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ const unsupportedHostOutput = {
     "Safe no-follow file opens are unavailable on this host. Import the source tree with REA on Linux (including WSL) or macOS.",
 };
 
+const permissionChecksUnavailable =
+  process.platform === "win32" || process.getuid?.() === 0;
+
 describe("compiled Windows reference-source import", () => {
   for (const scenario of [
     { fullOutput: false, logging: false },
@@ -132,4 +135,38 @@ describe("compiled reference-source import preflight failures", () => {
       },
     );
   }
+
+  cliTest.skipIf(permissionChecksUnavailable)(
+    "classifies a blocked parent directory as an execution failure",
+    async ({ cli }) => {
+      const directory = await createTestTempDirectory(
+        "rea-reference-cli-blocked-root-",
+      );
+      const parent = join(directory, "blocked-parent");
+      const root = join(parent, "input");
+      await mkdir(root, { recursive: true });
+      await chmod(parent, 0);
+      try {
+        const result = await cli.run({
+          arguments: ["import-reference-source", root, "--json"],
+          cwd: directory,
+          environment: {
+            HOME: directory,
+            USERPROFILE: directory,
+            XDG_CONFIG_HOME: directory,
+            XDG_CACHE_HOME: directory,
+          },
+        });
+        expect(result.json).toEqual({
+          error: "Import failed",
+          category: "execution_failure",
+          message:
+            "Reference source files could not be read. Check directory permissions and try again.",
+        });
+        expect(result.exitCode).toBe(1);
+      } finally {
+        await chmod(parent, 0o700);
+      }
+    },
+  );
 });
diff --git a/tests/boundary/filesystem/referenceSourceFailureDetails.test.ts b/tests/boundary/filesystem/referenceSourceFailureDetails.test.ts
index a4810e312d..fd9e07149a 100644
--- a/tests/boundary/filesystem/referenceSourceFailureDetails.test.ts
+++ b/tests/boundary/filesystem/referenceSourceFailureDetails.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { execFile } from "node:child_process";
-import { chmod, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { chmod, mkdir, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 import { promisify } from "node:util";
 
@@ -20,6 +20,32 @@ const permissionChecksUnavailable =
   process.platform === "win32" || process.getuid?.() === 0;
 
 describe("reference import native entry failure details", () => {
+  it.skipIf(permissionChecksUnavailable)(
+    "classifies a root behind a blocked parent as an I/O failure",
+    async () => {
+      const directory = await createTestTempDirectory(
+        "rea-reference-root-permission-",
+      );
+      const parent = join(directory, "blocked-parent");
+      const root = join(parent, "source");
+      await mkdir(root, { recursive: true });
+      await chmod(parent, 0);
+      try {
+        const read = await readReferenceSource(root);
+        expect(read).toMatchObject({
+          ok: false,
+          error: {
+            tag: "reference-source-reader",
+            code: "io",
+            message: expect.stringContaining("EACCES"),
+          },
+        });
+      } finally {
+        await chmod(parent, 0o700);
+      }
+    },
+  );
+
   it.skipIf(permissionChecksUnavailable)(
     "retains the actual operating-system reason for an unreadable file",
     async () => {