diff --git a/src/gpu/GpuInventory.ts b/src/gpu/GpuInventory.ts
index f7870c095c..9615fe4003 100644
--- a/src/gpu/GpuInventory.ts
+++ b/src/gpu/GpuInventory.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import type {
 import {
   BinaryFormatFailure,
   BinaryResourceFailure,
+  BinaryStringReadLimitFailure,
 } from "../native/metadata/BinaryContainer.js";
 import {
   readElfSectionDirectory,
@@ -295,7 +296,8 @@ export class GpuInventory {
     )
       throw cause;
     row.inspection =
-      cause instanceof BinaryResourceFailure
+      cause instanceof BinaryResourceFailure ||
+      cause instanceof BinaryStringReadLimitFailure
         ? "capacity"
         : cause.kind === "unsupported"
           ? "unsupported"
diff --git a/src/native/exports/NativeExportParser.test.ts b/src/native/exports/NativeExportParser.test.ts
index 22e0268b2c..5058dd3675 100644
--- a/src/native/exports/NativeExportParser.test.ts
+++ b/src/native/exports/NativeExportParser.test.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import * as nativeExportContracts from "../../domain/native/nativeExports.js";
 import {
   BinaryFormatFailure,
   BinaryResourceFailure,
+  BinaryStringReadLimitFailure,
 } from "../metadata/BinaryContainer.js";
 import {
   parseNativeExports,
@@ -564,6 +565,17 @@ describe("ELF export version and name coverage", () => {
     expect(result.coverage.status).toBe("partial");
   });
 
+  it("keeps unrelated exports when a symbol name exceeds the string scan allowance", () => {
+    const result = parse(
+      elfExportImage({
+        symbols: [{ name: "kept" }, { name: "k".repeat(65_536) }],
+      }),
+    );
+    expect(result.exports.map(({ name }) => name)).toEqual(["kept"]);
+    expect(result.issues).toMatchObject([{ code: "name_unreadable" }]);
+    expect(result.coverage.status).toBe("partial");
+  });
+
   it("separates an examined empty symbol table from unavailable symbol declarations", () => {
     expect(parse(elfExportImage({ symbols: [] }))).toMatchObject({
       exports: [],
@@ -833,7 +845,7 @@ describe("ELF symbol-name text", () => {
         expect(result.issues).toContainEqual(
           expect.objectContaining({
             message: expect.stringContaining(
-              "unterminated or exceeds the string budget",
+              new BinaryStringReadLimitFailure(65_536).message,
             ),
           }),
         );
diff --git a/src/native/metadata/BinaryContainer.ts b/src/native/metadata/BinaryContainer.ts
index cc24e1b556..05f7073f47 100644
--- a/src/native/metadata/BinaryContainer.ts
+++ b/src/native/metadata/BinaryContainer.ts
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ export class BinaryStringReadLimitFailure extends BinaryFormatFailure {
     // allowing coverage-aware consumers to distinguish a limit from corruption.
     super(
       "malformed",
-      `String is unterminated or longer than ${String(maximumBytes)} bytes`,
+      `String termination was not established within its ${String(maximumBytes)}-byte read allowance`,
     );
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/native/metadata/ElfStringTable.test.ts b/src/native/metadata/ElfStringTable.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f06fedaeec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/native/metadata/ElfStringTable.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+import { expect, it } from "vitest";
+import {
+  BinaryFormatFailure,
+  BinaryStringReadLimitFailure,
+} from "./BinaryContainer.js";
+import { readElfString, readElfStringBytes } from "./ElfStringTable.js";
+
+it("preserves empty and non-UTF8 string-table bytes", () => {
+  const table = Buffer.from([0, 0xff, 0x61, 0]);
+  expect(readElfStringBytes(table, 0).equals(Buffer.alloc(0))).toBe(true);
+  expect(readElfStringBytes(table, 1).equals(Buffer.from([0xff, 0x61]))).toBe(
+    true,
+  );
+  expect(readElfString(table, 1)).toBe("\xffa");
+});
+
+it("reads a terminator inside the scan allowance at a nonzero table offset", () => {
+  const table = Buffer.concat([
+    Buffer.from([0]),
+    Buffer.alloc(65_535, 0x61),
+    Buffer.from([0]),
+  ]);
+  expect(readElfStringBytes(table, 1)).toHaveLength(65_535);
+});
+
+it.each([65_536, 70_000])(
+  "reports unknown termination when a %i-byte string exceeds the scan allowance",
+  (size) => {
+    const table = Buffer.concat([
+      Buffer.from([0]),
+      Buffer.alloc(size, 0x61),
+      Buffer.from([0]),
+    ]);
+    expect(() => readElfStringBytes(table, 1)).toThrow(
+      BinaryStringReadLimitFailure,
+    );
+    try {
+      readElfStringBytes(table, 1);
+    } catch (cause) {
+      expect(cause).toBeInstanceOf(BinaryFormatFailure);
+      expect(cause).toMatchObject({ maximumBytes: 65_536 });
+    }
+  },
+);
+
+it.each([3, 65_536])(
+  "keeps a fully examined %i-byte unterminated table malformed",
+  (size) => {
+    const table = Buffer.alloc(size, 0x61);
+    expect(() => readElfStringBytes(table, 0)).toThrow(BinaryFormatFailure);
+    expect(() => readElfStringBytes(table, 0)).not.toThrow(
+      BinaryStringReadLimitFailure,
+    );
+  },
+);
+
+it.each([-1, 1])("keeps an out-of-table offset %i malformed", (offset) => {
+  expect(() => readElfStringBytes(Buffer.from([0]), offset)).toThrow(
+    BinaryFormatFailure,
+  );
+  expect(() => readElfStringBytes(Buffer.from([0]), offset)).not.toThrow(
+    BinaryStringReadLimitFailure,
+  );
+});
diff --git a/src/native/metadata/ElfStringTable.ts b/src/native/metadata/ElfStringTable.ts
index c60a179a57..9f02f84a38 100644
--- a/src/native/metadata/ElfStringTable.ts
+++ b/src/native/metadata/ElfStringTable.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 import { observeElfStringTableEntry } from "../../domain/elfStringTable.js";
-import { BinaryFormatFailure } from "./BinaryContainer.js";
+import {
+  BinaryFormatFailure,
+  BinaryStringReadLimitFailure,
+} from "./BinaryContainer.js";
 
 export const readElfString = (bytes: Buffer, offset: number): string => {
   return readElfStringBytes(bytes, offset).toString("latin1");
@@ -13,10 +16,13 @@ export const readElfStringBytes = (bytes: Buffer, offset: number): Buffer => {
       "malformed",
       "ELF string offset is outside its string table",
     );
-  if (observed.state === "truncated")
+  if (observed.state === "truncated") {
+    if (offset + observed.examinedBytes < bytes.length)
+      throw new BinaryStringReadLimitFailure(observed.examinedBytes);
     throw new BinaryFormatFailure(
       "malformed",
-      "ELF string is unterminated or exceeds the string budget",
+      "ELF string is unterminated inside its string table",
     );
+  }
   return observed.bytes;
 };
diff --git a/tests/acceptance/gpuCodeObjectsCli.test.ts b/tests/acceptance/gpuCodeObjectsCli.test.ts
index c48600d867..09ca561735 100644
--- a/tests/acceptance/gpuCodeObjectsCli.test.ts
+++ b/tests/acceptance/gpuCodeObjectsCli.test.ts
@@ -69,6 +69,42 @@ cliTest(
   },
 );
 
+cliTest(
+  "reports an exhausted ELF symbol string scan as capacity instead of corruption",
+  async ({ cli }) => {
+    const root = await createTestTempDirectory("rea-cubin-string-limit-");
+    const bytes = cubinFixture({ name: "k".repeat(65_536) });
+    const path = join(root, "long-symbol.cubin");
+    await writeFile(path, bytes);
+    const response = await runFileCli(cli, {
+      arguments: [
+        "inspect-gpu-code-objects",
+        path,
+        "--analysis",
+        "kernels",
+        "--detail",
+        "complete",
+        "--json",
+      ],
+    });
+    expect(response.exitCode, response.stderr).toBe(0);
+    const evidence = parseEvidence(
+      toolContract("inspect_gpu_code_objects").outputSchema.parse(
+        response.json,
+      ),
+    );
+    const report = gpuCodeObjectsSchema.parse(evidence.normalized_result);
+    expect(report.objects[0]).toMatchObject({
+      kind: "cubin",
+      inspection: "capacity",
+    });
+    expect(report.artifact.sha256).toBe(
+      createHash("sha256").update(bytes).digest("hex"),
+    );
+    expect(report.coverage.payloads).toBe("partial");
+  },
+);
+
 cliTest(
   "inventories a complete CCOB stream containing ordinary CCOB payload text",
   async ({ cli }) => {