diff --git a/src/Backend/AutopilotMonitor.Functions/Services/Vulnerability/VulnerabilityCacheWarmer.cs b/src/Backend/AutopilotMonitor.Functions/Services/Vulnerability/VulnerabilityCacheWarmer.cs
index 2bfa7032..20181e94 100644
--- a/src/Backend/AutopilotMonitor.Functions/Services/Vulnerability/VulnerabilityCacheWarmer.cs
+++ b/src/Backend/AutopilotMonitor.Functions/Services/Vulnerability/VulnerabilityCacheWarmer.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Diagnostics;
 using System.Threading;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using Microsoft.ApplicationInsights;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
 
@@ -12,20 +15,31 @@ namespace AutopilotMonitor.Functions.Services.Vulnerability
     /// host comes up immediately — the actual blob reads run in the background and the
     /// correlation hot path defensively calls <c>EnsureHydratedAsync</c> in case telemetry
     /// arrives before warmup completes.
+    ///
+    /// Emits a <c>VulnerabilityCacheWarmupCompleted</c> custom event per cold start so
+    /// runtime health is observable without relying on aggressively sampled trace logs:
+    /// <code>
+    /// customEvents
+    /// | where name == 'VulnerabilityCacheWarmupCompleted'
+    /// | project timestamp, customDimensions
+    /// </code>
     /// </summary>
     public class VulnerabilityCacheWarmer : IHostedService
     {
         private readonly MsrcCorrelationService _msrc;
         private readonly KevDataService _kev;
+        private readonly TelemetryClient? _telemetryClient;
         private readonly ILogger<VulnerabilityCacheWarmer> _logger;
 
         public VulnerabilityCacheWarmer(
             MsrcCorrelationService msrc,
             KevDataService kev,
+            TelemetryClient? telemetryClient,
             ILogger<VulnerabilityCacheWarmer> logger)
         {
             _msrc = msrc;
             _kev = kev;
+            _telemetryClient = telemetryClient;
             _logger = logger;
         }
 
@@ -37,6 +51,9 @@ namespace AutopilotMonitor.Functions.Services.Vulnerability
             // in-flight load instead of duplicating work.
             _ = Task.Run(async () =>
             {
+                var sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
+                string? errorType = null;
+                string? errorMessage = null;
                 try
                 {
                     await Task.WhenAll(
@@ -48,8 +65,30 @@ namespace AutopilotMonitor.Functions.Services.Vulnerability
                 }
                 catch (Exception ex)
                 {
+                    errorType = ex.GetType().Name;
+                    errorMessage = ex.Message;
                     _logger.LogWarning(ex, "Vulnerability cache warmup failed — defensive hydration will still cover correctness");
                 }
+                finally
+                {
+                    sw.Stop();
+                    // Sampling-bypass observability — host.json's excludedTypes adds "Event"
+                    // so this survives even when default trace sampling is aggressive. Lets
+                    // ops verify per-cold-start that hydration ran and which source(s) hit
+                    // the blob (msrcBlobHit/kevBlobHit = entries > 0 after EnsureHydrated).
+                    _telemetryClient?.TrackEvent("VulnerabilityCacheWarmupCompleted", new Dictionary<string, string>
+                    {
+                        { "msrcEntries", _msrc.IndexSize.ToString() },
+                        { "kevEntries", _kev.CatalogSize.ToString() },
+                        { "msrcBlobHit", (_msrc.IndexSize > 0).ToString() },
+                        { "kevBlobHit", (_kev.CatalogSize > 0).ToString() },
+                        { "msrcLastRefresh", _msrc.LastRefresh == DateTime.MinValue ? "" : _msrc.LastRefresh.ToString("o") },
+                        { "kevLastRefresh", _kev.LastRefresh == DateTime.MinValue ? "" : _kev.LastRefresh.ToString("o") },
+                        { "durationMs", sw.ElapsedMilliseconds.ToString() },
+                        { "errorType", errorType ?? "" },
+                        { "errorMessage", errorMessage ?? "" }
+                    });
+                }
             }, cancellationToken);
 
             return Task.CompletedTask;