diff --git a/src/Core/Net/CertificatePinStore.cs b/src/Core/Net/CertificatePinStore.cs
index 6fc2f1c..a61baca 100644
--- a/src/Core/Net/CertificatePinStore.cs
+++ b/src/Core/Net/CertificatePinStore.cs
@@ -58,10 +58,21 @@ public sealed class CertificatePinStore(string filePath)
         }
     }
 
-    private Dictionary<string, string> Load() =>
-        File.Exists(filePath)
-            ? JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Dictionary<string, string>>(File.ReadAllText(filePath)) ?? []
-            : [];
+    private Dictionary<string, string> Load()
+    {
+        if (!File.Exists(filePath))
+            return [];
+        try
+        {
+            return JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Dictionary<string, string>>(File.ReadAllText(filePath)) ?? [];
+        }
+        catch (JsonException)
+        {
+            // A corrupt pin file must not make every SSL connection fail forever:
+            // fall back to first-contact TOFU (same trust level as the bootstrap).
+            return [];
+        }
+    }
 
     private void Save(Dictionary<string, string> pins)
     {
diff --git a/src/Core/Storage/EncryptedFile.cs b/src/Core/Storage/EncryptedFile.cs
index f560637..5736b0e 100644
--- a/src/Core/Storage/EncryptedFile.cs
+++ b/src/Core/Storage/EncryptedFile.cs
@@ -26,13 +26,21 @@ public static class EncryptedFile
         try
         {
             using var doc = JsonDocument.Parse(fileContent);
-            return doc.RootElement.TryGetProperty("Format", out var f)
+            return doc.RootElement.ValueKind == JsonValueKind.Object
+                && doc.RootElement.TryGetProperty("Format", out var f)
+                && f.ValueKind == JsonValueKind.String
                 && f.GetString() == Format;
         }
         catch (JsonException)
         {
             return false;
         }
+        catch (ArgumentException)
+        {
+            // Invalid UTF-16 (lone surrogates) cannot be transcoded for parsing:
+            // certainly not an encrypted container.
+            return false;
+        }
     }
 
     public static string Encrypt(string plaintext, string password)