diff --git a/.github/scripts/issue-quality.cjs b/.github/scripts/issue-quality.cjs
index 9b38b6b06..12d2ecc6c 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/issue-quality.cjs
+++ b/.github/scripts/issue-quality.cjs
@@ -16,6 +16,18 @@ const REPRODUCTION_ALIASES = [
   "Stack trace",
 ];
 
+const ISSUE_QUALITY_MARKER = "<!-- opencodex-issue-quality-bot -->";
+const ISSUE_QUALITY_STATE_PREFIX = "<!-- opencodex-issue-quality-state:";
+
+function isCanonicalIssueQualityComment(comment) {
+  return (
+    comment?.user?.login === "github-actions[bot]" &&
+    String(comment.body || "").startsWith(
+      `${ISSUE_QUALITY_MARKER}\n${ISSUE_QUALITY_STATE_PREFIX}`,
+    )
+  );
+}
+
 function extractEnvironmentField(environment, names) {
   if (environment == null) return null;
   const wanted = new Set(names.map((name) => name.toLowerCase()));
@@ -92,4 +104,5 @@ module.exports = {
   detectIssueKind,
   validateIssue,
   normalizeEquivalentBugEvidence,
+  isCanonicalIssueQualityComment,
 };
diff --git a/.github/scripts/issue-quality.test.cjs b/.github/scripts/issue-quality.test.cjs
index 4f22c4247..25ec247e4 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/issue-quality.test.cjs
+++ b/.github/scripts/issue-quality.test.cjs
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ const {
   looksLikeUntemplatedBugReport,
   shouldReopen,
   shouldEnforceClosure,
+  isCanonicalIssueQualityComment,
   labelForKind,
   AREA_LABELS,
   mapAreaFieldToLabels,
@@ -1453,6 +1454,41 @@ describe("shouldEnforceClosure", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("isCanonicalIssueQualityComment", () => {
+  const marker = "<!-- opencodex-issue-quality-bot -->";
+  const state = '<!-- opencodex-issue-quality-state:{"maintainerOverride":true} -->';
+
+  it("accepts the issue-quality workflow's canonical state comment", () => {
+    assert.equal(
+      isCanonicalIssueQualityComment({
+        user: { login: "github-actions[bot]" },
+        body: `${marker}\n${state}\n\n### Maintainer decision respected`,
+      }),
+      true,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("rejects another bot workflow's comment containing spoofed state", () => {
+    assert.equal(
+      isCanonicalIssueQualityComment({
+        user: { login: "github-actions[bot]" },
+        body: `<!-- opencodex-issue-translator -->\n\n${marker}\n${state}`,
+      }),
+      false,
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("rejects a matching comment from a non-actions author", () => {
+    assert.equal(
+      isCanonicalIssueQualityComment({
+        user: { login: "reporter" },
+        body: `${marker}\n${state}`,
+      }),
+      false,
+    );
+  });
+});
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Translated / soft-pass / labels
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/.github/workflows/enforce-issue-quality.yml b/.github/workflows/enforce-issue-quality.yml
index ba828712f..431d4ebb6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/enforce-issue-quality.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/enforce-issue-quality.yml
@@ -786,6 +786,7 @@ jobs:
               validateIssue,
               shouldReopen,
               shouldEnforceClosure,
+              isCanonicalIssueQualityComment,
               labelForKind,
               detectAreaLabels,
               AREA_LABELS,
@@ -890,9 +891,7 @@ jobs:
             const comments = await github.paginate(github.rest.issues.listComments, {
               owner, repo, issue_number, per_page: 100,
             });
-            const botComment = comments.find(
-              (c) => c.user?.login === "github-actions[bot]" && c.body?.includes(BOT_MARKER),
-            );
+            const botComment = comments.find(isCanonicalIssueQualityComment);
 
             let botState = null;
             if (botComment) {