diff --git a/src/main/runtime/login-shell-path.test.ts b/src/main/runtime/login-shell-path.test.ts
index b2a1d326..aba64e1d 100644
--- a/src/main/runtime/login-shell-path.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/runtime/login-shell-path.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import test from 'node:test';
 import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import os from 'node:os';
 import { applyLoginShellPath, mergePathValues, readLoginShellPath } from './login-shell-path';
 
 const wrap = (value: string) =>
@@ -24,6 +25,51 @@ test('readLoginShellPath returns null when markers are missing', async () => {
   assert.equal(value, null);
 });
 
+test('readLoginShellPath rejects relative explicit shells before execution', async () => {
+  for (const shell of ['zsh', './zsh', '']) {
+    await assert.rejects(
+      readLoginShellPath({
+        env: { SHELL: '/bin/zsh' },
+        shell,
+        runShell: async () => assert.fail('Invalid shell must not execute'),
+      }),
+      /Login shell must be an absolute path/,
+    );
+  }
+});
+
+test('readLoginShellPath falls back through absolute default shells', async () => {
+  const originalUserInfo = os.userInfo;
+  try {
+    for (const shell of ['/bin/bash', 'bash', '', null]) {
+      Object.defineProperty(os, 'userInfo', {
+        value: () => ({ shell, username: 'test', uid: 1000, gid: 1000, homedir: '/Users/test' }),
+      });
+      await readLoginShellPath({
+        env: { SHELL: './zsh' },
+        runShell: async (selectedShell) => {
+          assert.equal(selectedShell, shell === '/bin/bash' ? '/bin/bash' : '/bin/zsh');
+          return wrap('/usr/bin');
+        },
+      });
+    }
+    Object.defineProperty(os, 'userInfo', {
+      value: () => {
+        throw new Error('User lookup failed');
+      },
+    });
+    await readLoginShellPath({
+      env: { SHELL: 'zsh' },
+      runShell: async (shell) => {
+        assert.equal(shell, '/bin/zsh');
+        return wrap('/usr/bin');
+      },
+    });
+  } finally {
+    os.userInfo = originalUserInfo;
+  }
+});
+
 test('mergePathValues puts login entries first and keeps process-only entries', () => {
   assert.equal(
     mergePathValues('/Users/me/.local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin', '/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin'),
diff --git a/src/main/runtime/login-shell-path.ts b/src/main/runtime/login-shell-path.ts
index 46009528..76ade52f 100644
--- a/src/main/runtime/login-shell-path.ts
+++ b/src/main/runtime/login-shell-path.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { execFile } from 'node:child_process';
 import os from 'node:os';
+import { isAbsolute } from 'node:path';
 
 const MARKER = '__SUBMINER_LOGIN_PATH__';
 const DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS = 5000;
@@ -29,9 +30,10 @@ const runShellDefault: RunShell = (shell, args, timeoutMs) =>
   });
 
 function defaultShell(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv): string {
-  if (env.SHELL) return env.SHELL;
+  if (env.SHELL && isAbsolute(env.SHELL)) return env.SHELL;
   try {
-    return os.userInfo().shell || '/bin/zsh';
+    const shell = os.userInfo().shell;
+    return shell && isAbsolute(shell) ? shell : '/bin/zsh';
   } catch {
     return '/bin/zsh';
   }
@@ -43,6 +45,7 @@ function defaultShell(env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv): string {
  */
 export async function readLoginShellPath(options: LoginShellPathOptions): Promise<string | null> {
   const shell = options.shell ?? defaultShell(options.env);
+  if (!isAbsolute(shell)) throw new Error('Login shell must be an absolute path');
   const run = options.runShell ?? runShellDefault;
   // printenv keeps this shell-agnostic (fish exposes $PATH as a list).
   const command = `printf '%s' '${MARKER}'; /usr/bin/printenv PATH; printf '%s' '${MARKER}'`;