diff --git a/scripts/core_probe.py b/scripts/core_probe.py
index 70b6b3052..1cf84cf54 100644
--- a/scripts/core_probe.py
+++ b/scripts/core_probe.py
@@ -766,27 +766,53 @@ def _bwrap_base(bwrap: str, network: bool) -> list[str]:
     return argv
 
 
+def _python_prefix(path: Path) -> bool:
+    """A Python installation or a venv, and nothing wider: it holds
+    lib/pythonX.Y or a pyvenv.cfg, and it is neither / nor the home folder
+    nor a folder above it."""
+    home = Path.home().resolve()
+    resolved = path.resolve()
+    if resolved == Path("/") or resolved == home or resolved in home.parents:
+        return False
+    version = f"python{sys.version_info.major}.{sys.version_info.minor}"
+    return (path / "pyvenv.cfg").is_file() or (path / "lib" / version).is_dir()
+
+
 def interpreter_paths() -> list[Path]:
-    """The trees the worker's Python lives in, when the sandbox's system
-    binds do not hold them: CI's setup-python under /opt/hostedtoolcache, a
-    venv, pyenv or uv. Each link on the way to the interpreter is a path too:
-    a venv's python points at uv's unversioned name, itself a link to the
-    versioned tree. Without them the worker could not start in the sandbox,
-    and every run crashed."""
+    """What the worker's Python needs inside the sandbox when the system
+    binds do not hold it: CI's setup-python under /opt/hostedtoolcache, a
+    venv, pyenv or uv. Without it the worker could not start, and every run
+    crashed.
+
+    Only Python installation prefixes are bound whole (sys.prefix,
+    sys.base_prefix and the prefix of each link's target, each proven by
+    lib/pythonX.Y or pyvenv.cfg). Every link on the way to the interpreter
+    is bound as itself, a single file, so ~/.local/bin/python3 never exposes
+    ~/.local."""
     system = ("/usr/", "/bin/", "/lib")
     found: list[Path] = []
-    candidates = [Path(sys.prefix), Path(sys.base_prefix)]
+
+    def add(path: Path) -> None:
+        path = Path(os.path.abspath(path))
+        # Inside a tree already bound, a path is there already: bwrap cannot
+        # mount over a link in a read-only tree, and the run would not start.
+        if any(path == bound or bound in path.parents for bound in found):
+            return
+        if not str(path).startswith(system) and path.exists():
+            found.append(path)
+
+    for prefix in (Path(sys.prefix), Path(sys.base_prefix)):
+        if _python_prefix(prefix):
+            add(prefix)
     hop = Path(sys.executable)
     for _ in range(16):
-        candidates.append(hop.parent.parent)
+        if _python_prefix(hop.parent.parent):
+            add(hop.parent.parent)
         if not hop.is_symlink():
             break
+        add(hop)
         target = Path(os.readlink(hop))
         hop = target if target.is_absolute() else hop.parent / target
-    for path in candidates:
-        path = Path(os.path.abspath(path))
-        if not str(path).startswith(system) and path not in found and path.exists():
-            found.append(path)
     return found
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_core_probe.py b/tests/test_core_probe.py
index f9b3babb1..12795cb5e 100644
--- a/tests/test_core_probe.py
+++ b/tests/test_core_probe.py
@@ -672,10 +672,13 @@ class TheInterpreterIsInTheSandbox(unittest.TestCase):
             real = root / "uv" / "cpython-3.13.12" / "bin"
             real.mkdir(parents=True)
             (real / "python3.13").write_text("")
+            version = f"python{sys.version_info.major}.{sys.version_info.minor}"
+            (root / "uv" / "cpython-3.13.12" / "lib" / version).mkdir(parents=True)
             alias = root / "uv" / "cpython-3.13"
             alias.symlink_to(root / "uv" / "cpython-3.13.12")
             venv = root / "venv" / "bin"
             venv.mkdir(parents=True)
+            (root / "venv" / "pyvenv.cfg").write_text("home = x\n")
             (venv / "python").symlink_to(alias / "bin" / "python3.13")
             with mock.patch.object(core_probe.sys, "executable", str(venv / "python")), \
                     mock.patch.object(core_probe.sys, "prefix", str(root / "venv")), \
@@ -684,6 +687,36 @@ class TheInterpreterIsInTheSandbox(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertIn(root / "venv", paths)
         self.assertIn(alias, paths)
         self.assertIn(root / "uv" / "cpython-3.13.12", paths)
+        # The venv's own link sits in the venv, bound already.
+        self.assertNotIn(venv / "python", paths)
+
+    def test_a_link_in_a_shared_folder_binds_only_itself(self):
+        """~/.local/bin/python3 must not expose ~/.local: only the link file
+        and the proven Python prefix behind it are bound."""
+        from unittest import mock  # noqa: PLC0415
+
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp:
+            root = Path(tmp)
+            prefix = root / "share" / "cpython"
+            (prefix / "bin").mkdir(parents=True)
+            (prefix / "bin" / "python3").write_text("")
+            version = f"python{sys.version_info.major}.{sys.version_info.minor}"
+            (prefix / "lib" / version).mkdir(parents=True)
+            local = root / "dotlocal"
+            (local / "bin").mkdir(parents=True)
+            (local / "secrets.txt").write_text("x")
+            (local / "bin" / "python3").symlink_to(prefix / "bin" / "python3")
+            with mock.patch.object(core_probe.sys, "executable", str(local / "bin" / "python3")), \
+                    mock.patch.object(core_probe.sys, "prefix", str(prefix)), \
+                    mock.patch.object(core_probe.sys, "base_prefix", str(prefix)):
+                paths = core_probe.interpreter_paths()
+        self.assertNotIn(local, paths)
+        self.assertIn(local / "bin" / "python3", paths)
+        self.assertIn(prefix, paths)
+
+    def test_home_and_root_are_never_a_prefix(self):
+        self.assertFalse(core_probe._python_prefix(Path("/")))
+        self.assertFalse(core_probe._python_prefix(Path.home()))
 
     def test_a_link_is_mounted_at_its_own_path(self):
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp: