diff --git a/vnc/plugins/smime/src/index.js b/vnc/plugins/smime/src/index.js
index 04b14776..ed755646 100644
--- a/vnc/plugins/smime/src/index.js
+++ b/vnc/plugins/smime/src/index.js
@@ -723,6 +723,7 @@ function EmailBanner(props) {
     (async () => {
       if (!email || !email.id) { setLoaded(true); return; }
       let s = await host.storage.get(VERIFY_PREFIX + email.id);
+      const fromPersisted = !!s;
       if (!s) {
         // No render-hook result yet — best-effort detect from headers/source.
         const ct = email.headers && (email.headers['Content-Type'] || email.headers['content-type']);
@@ -732,6 +733,25 @@ function EmailBanner(props) {
         else if (det.type === 'detached-sig') s = { isSigned: true, unsupportedReason: 'detached signature' };
       }
       if (alive) { setStatus(s || null); setLoaded(true); }
+
+      // VNC: onRenderEmailBody runs concurrently with this component and does
+      // real async work (fetch blob, decrypt, verify the inner signature)
+      // before it persists the full status. If storage had nothing yet, what we
+      // just showed is a header-derived guess — for an encrypted message that
+      // guess cannot know whether it's ALSO signed, since that only becomes
+      // knowable after decryption. Without this poll, a signed+encrypted
+      // message can permanently show "Encrypted message" with no signature
+      // row at all, and — worse — an INVALID signature could go undetected on
+      // screen simply because this component read storage a moment too early.
+      // Once a real persisted value exists, stop.
+      if (!fromPersisted && s && s.isEncrypted) {
+        for (let i = 0; i < 20 && alive; i++) {
+          await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 150));
+          let next = null;
+          try { next = await host.storage.get(VERIFY_PREFIX + email.id); } catch { /* ignore */ }
+          if (next) { if (alive) setStatus(next); break; }
+        }
+      }
     })();
     return () => { alive = false; };
   }, [email && email.id]);
diff --git a/vnc/plugins/smime/verify-fixes.mjs b/vnc/plugins/smime/verify-fixes.mjs
index c987831f..82cb4b16 100644
--- a/vnc/plugins/smime/verify-fixes.mjs
+++ b/vnc/plugins/smime/verify-fixes.mjs
@@ -150,5 +150,13 @@ check('dead lockOnLogout setting removed from manifest',
 check('auth:observe still declared (B-09 safety)',
   mani.permissions.includes('auth:observe'), true);
 
+// banner race fix (found live, 2026-08-04): the initial mount read must poll
+// when it fell back to a header-only guess, so a signature that resolves a
+// moment later (or an INVALID one) isn't silently missed on screen.
+check('banner distinguishes a persisted read from the header fallback',
+  /const fromPersisted = !!s;/.test(idx), true);
+check('banner polls after a fallback-only encrypted read',
+  /if \(!fromPersisted && s && s\.isEncrypted\)/.test(idx), true);
+
 console.log(`\n${fail === 0 ? 'ALL PASS' : 'FAILURES'} — ${pass} passed, ${fail} failed\n`);
 process.exit(fail === 0 ? 0 : 1);