diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index 2f595aac..406aaedd 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -37,14 +37,16 @@ ARG CACHEBUST=1
 # Upgrade all packages to fix security vulnerabilities (OpenSSL, libexpat, BusyBox CVEs)
 RUN echo "cachebust=${CACHEBUST}" && apk upgrade --no-cache
 
-# Upgrade the npm CLI in the final image so its bundled deps are patched
-# (sigstore 4.x, tar) — closes CVE-2026-48815 and the older @sigstore/core / tar
-# Trivy alerts. Safe here: only the CLI present in the image changes. Runtime
-# dependencies come from the builder stage (COPY --from=builder node_modules
-# below) and the entrypoint runs node, not npm — so npm 11's install behaviour
-# (the reason 10.x was pinned) never executes in this stage. npm 11 needs
-# Node >=22.9, satisfied by node:22-alpine.
-RUN npm install -g npm@11
+# Remove the npm CLI from the final image. Nothing runs npm here: the
+# entrypoint is node, runtime deps are COPY'd from the builder stage, and
+# wait-for-db.sh invokes the migration runners via node directly. npm's
+# bundled node_modules kept tripping Trivy (sigstore, tar 7.5.19,
+# brace-expansion 5.0.7 — even npm 12.0.1 still ships the vulnerable
+# copies), so shipping no npm ends that alert class instead of chasing
+# per-release patches. Note: `docker exec … npm run <script>` no longer
+# works in the container — use `node migrations/run-migrations-safe.js`
+# and friends instead.
+RUN rm -rf /usr/local/lib/node_modules/npm /usr/local/bin/npm /usr/local/bin/npx
 
 # Install dumb-init for proper signal handling, postgresql-client for database
 # checks, ffmpeg for video upload support, and su-exec for the root → nodejs
diff --git a/backend/__tests__/integration/restoreService.pgBranch.test.js b/backend/__tests__/integration/restoreService.pgBranch.test.js
index 6b6eab8b..25e4a1cf 100644
--- a/backend/__tests__/integration/restoreService.pgBranch.test.js
+++ b/backend/__tests__/integration/restoreService.pgBranch.test.js
@@ -183,22 +183,24 @@ describe('restoreService — PG branch scope contract (PR #596 review)', () => {
     expect(window).toMatch(/was_successful:\s*true/);
   });
 
-  it('npm run migrate:safe is invoked after the replay in restore()', () => {
+  it('the safe migration runner is invoked after the replay in restore()', () => {
     // Contract from PR #596 round 4: backups taken on older picpeak
     // versions must restore COMPLETELY on a newer image — even if new
     // migrations have been added since the backup was taken. The
-    // restore() flow shells out to `npm run migrate:safe` AFTER the
+    // restore() flow shells out to the safe migration runner AFTER the
     // operator-meta replay so the schema catches up to the running
     // code WITHIN the restore boundary (not on the next container
-    // restart).
+    // restart). Invoked as `node migrations/run-migrations-safe.js` —
+    // the runtime image ships no npm, so the former `npm run
+    // migrate:safe` would ENOENT into the non-fatal catch.
     //
     // Contract:
-    //   1. A `migrate:safe` shell-out exists somewhere in restoreService
+    //   1. A run-migrations-safe shell-out exists somewhere in restoreService
     //   2. It sits AFTER the replay drain — verification → replay →
     //      migrations is the documented order
     //   3. It does NOT sit inside performDatabaseRestore (must run
     //      against the reinit'd pool from the parent restore())
-    const migrateLine = findFirst(/['"]migrate:safe['"]/);
+    const migrateLine = findFirst(/run-migrations-safe\.js/);
     expect(migrateLine).toBeGreaterThan(0);
 
     const replayLine = findLast(/this\.preservedMetaSnapshot\.length\s*>\s*0/);
diff --git a/backend/package-lock.json b/backend/package-lock.json
index 1bd5ac7d..51b06ad0 100644
--- a/backend/package-lock.json
+++ b/backend/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "picpeak-backend",
-  "version": "3.95.1-beta.0",
+  "version": "3.95.2-beta.0",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "picpeak-backend",
-      "version": "3.95.1-beta.0",
+      "version": "3.95.2-beta.0",
       "dependencies": {
         "@aws-sdk/client-s3": "^3.850.0",
         "@aws-sdk/lib-storage": "^3.850.0",
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
         "pdf-lib": "^1.17.1",
         "pdfkit": "^0.17.2",
         "pg": "^8.16.3",
-        "postcss": "8.5.10",
+        "postcss": "8.5.18",
         "qrcode": "^1.5.4",
         "react-i18next": "^15.6.0",
         "sanitize-html": "^2.17.0",
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@
         "swagger-jsdoc": "^6.2.8",
         "swagger-ui-express": "^5.0.1",
         "swissqrbill": "^4.3.0",
-        "tar": ">=7.5.16",
+        "tar": ">=7.5.21",
         "uuid": "^11.1.1",
         "winston": "^3.8.2",
         "zxcvbn": "^4.4.2"
@@ -9090,9 +9090,9 @@
       }
     },
     "node_modules/nanoid": {
-      "version": "3.3.11",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/nanoid/-/nanoid-3.3.11.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-N8SpfPUnUp1bK+PMYW8qSWdl9U+wwNWI4QKxOYDy9JAro3WMX7p2OeVRF9v+347pnakNevPmiHhNmZ2HbFA76w==",
+      "version": "3.3.16",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/nanoid/-/nanoid-3.3.16.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-bzlKTyNJ7+LdGIIwy8ijFpIqEQIvafahV7eYykJ8Cvh42EdJeODoJ6gUJXpQJvej1BddH8OqTXZNE/KfbWAu8Q==",
       "funding": [
         {
           "type": "github",
@@ -10097,9 +10097,9 @@
       }
     },
     "node_modules/postcss": {
-      "version": "8.5.10",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/postcss/-/postcss-8.5.10.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-pMMHxBOZKFU6HgAZ4eyGnwXF/EvPGGqUr0MnZ5+99485wwW41kW91A4LOGxSHhgugZmSChL5AlElNdwlNgcnLQ==",
+      "version": "8.5.18",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/postcss/-/postcss-8.5.18.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-xdB1oSLHbz1vRWgCDalrCqEFTWzFlhqFC5tIHLMOSUIjhm3XXQ1qrFy8S/ESr1JYRRXqM3c1QFiMZUJdUTqyMQ==",
       "funding": [
         {
           "type": "opencollective",
@@ -10116,7 +10116,7 @@
       ],
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
-        "nanoid": "^3.3.11",
+        "nanoid": "^3.3.12",
         "picocolors": "^1.1.1",
         "source-map-js": "^1.2.1"
       },
@@ -11815,9 +11815,9 @@
       }
     },
     "node_modules/tar": {
-      "version": "7.5.19",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/tar/-/tar-7.5.19.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-4LeEWl96twnS2Q7Bz4MGqgazLqO+hJN63GZxXoIqh1T3VweYD997gbU1ItNsQafqqXTXd5WFyFdReLtwvRBNiw==",
+      "version": "7.5.22",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/tar/-/tar-7.5.22.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-MFO/QzvtAOmJbkhOaCTvbGcFN9L9b+JunIsDwaKljSOdcLMea3NJ1k9Usz/rjdfSXTq4dfzfeS7W4p4YOAAHeA==",
       "license": "BlueOak-1.0.0",
       "dependencies": {
         "@isaacs/fs-minipass": "^4.0.0",
diff --git a/backend/package.json b/backend/package.json
index ff186dc2..838cce20 100644
--- a/backend/package.json
+++ b/backend/package.json
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
     "pdf-lib": "^1.17.1",
     "pdfkit": "^0.17.2",
     "pg": "^8.16.3",
-    "postcss": "8.5.10",
+    "postcss": "8.5.18",
     "qrcode": "^1.5.4",
     "react-i18next": "^15.6.0",
     "sanitize-html": "^2.17.0",
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@
     "swagger-jsdoc": "^6.2.8",
     "swagger-ui-express": "^5.0.1",
     "swissqrbill": "^4.3.0",
-    "tar": ">=7.5.16",
+    "tar": ">=7.5.21",
     "uuid": "^11.1.1",
     "winston": "^3.8.2",
     "zxcvbn": "^4.4.2"
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@
     "js-yaml": "^4.2.0",
     "fast-xml-parser": ">=5.7.0",
     "qs": ">=6.15.2",
-    "tar": ">=7.5.16",
+    "tar": ">=7.5.21",
     "brace-expansion": ">=5.0.7",
     "minimatch": ">=9.0.7",
     "path-to-regexp": "0.1.13",
diff --git a/backend/src/services/restoreService.js b/backend/src/services/restoreService.js
index 1932537e..97f4b5d7 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/restoreService.js
+++ b/backend/src/services/restoreService.js
@@ -298,7 +298,10 @@ class RestoreService {
         this.log('info', 'Applying post-restore migrations to restored database...');
         this.updateProgress('Applying any post-backup migrations...');
         const backendRoot = path.join(__dirname, '..', '..');
-        const { stderr } = await spawnAsync('npm', ['run', 'migrate:safe'], {
+        // Invoked via node directly — the runtime image ships no npm
+        // (see Dockerfile), and an ENOENT here would be swallowed by the
+        // non-fatal catch below, silently skipping post-restore migrations.
+        const { stderr } = await spawnAsync('node', ['migrations/run-migrations-safe.js'], {
           cwd: backendRoot,
           env: { ...process.env },
         });
diff --git a/backend/wait-for-db.sh b/backend/wait-for-db.sh
index 2316520b..f4653609 100755
--- a/backend/wait-for-db.sh
+++ b/backend/wait-for-db.sh
@@ -120,12 +120,14 @@ echo "Ensuring storage directories exist..."
 STORAGE_BASE="${STORAGE_PATH:-/app/storage}"
 mkdir -p "$STORAGE_BASE/events/active" "$STORAGE_BASE/events/archived" "$STORAGE_BASE/thumbnails" 2>/dev/null || true
 
-# Run migrations (use safe runner in production)
+# Run migrations (use safe runner in production). Invoked via node directly —
+# the runtime image no longer ships npm (see Dockerfile: its bundled deps kept
+# tripping CVE scanners while npm itself never runs in production).
 echo "Running database migrations..."
 if [ "$NODE_ENV" = "production" ]; then
-  npm run migrate:safe
+  node migrations/run-migrations-safe.js
 else
-  npm run migrate
+  node migrations/run-migrations.js
 fi
 
 # Execute the main command