diff --git a/backend/src/__tests__/proxy-role-forwarding.test.ts b/backend/src/__tests__/proxy-role-forwarding.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b4c18b00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/__tests__/proxy-role-forwarding.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,217 @@
+/**
+ * Tests for cross-node RBAC preservation: the forwarding primary asserts the
+ * signed-in user's role on PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, and the remote's authMiddleware
+ * honors it for node_proxy / pilot_tunnel bearers instead of granting every
+ * proxied request blanket admin.
+ *
+ * The probe route is `GET /api/users` (admin-only, no Docker dependency). A
+ * forwarded non-admin role must be denied there; an absent header (a direct
+ * instance-to-instance / background service call) must keep admin.
+ */
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeAll, afterAll } from 'vitest';
+import http from 'http';
+import bcrypt from 'bcrypt';
+import request from 'supertest';
+import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
+import {
+  setupTestDb,
+  cleanupTestDb,
+  loginAsTestAdmin,
+  TEST_JWT_SECRET,
+} from './helpers/setupTestDb';
+import { PROXY_ROLE_HEADER } from '../services/license-headers';
+
+let tmpDir: string;
+let app: import('express').Express;
+let viewerBearer: string;
+
+const VIEWER_USER = 'proxy-role-viewer';
+
+beforeAll(async () => {
+  tmpDir = await setupTestDb();
+  ({ app } = await import('../index'));
+  const { DatabaseService } = await import('../services/DatabaseService');
+  const db = DatabaseService.getInstance();
+  const hash = await bcrypt.hash('password123', 1);
+  db.addUser({ username: VIEWER_USER, password_hash: hash, role: 'viewer' });
+  const viewer = db.getUserByUsername(VIEWER_USER)!;
+  viewerBearer = jwt.sign(
+    { username: VIEWER_USER, role: 'viewer', tv: viewer.token_version },
+    TEST_JWT_SECRET,
+    { expiresIn: '1m' },
+  );
+});
+
+afterAll(() => {
+  cleanupTestDb(tmpDir);
+});
+
+const signToken = (payload: Record<string, unknown>, expiresIn: string | number = '1m') =>
+  jwt.sign(payload, TEST_JWT_SECRET, { expiresIn: expiresIn as jwt.SignOptions['expiresIn'] });
+
+const ADMIN_ONLY = '/api/users';
+// Docker-free, gated by requirePermission('stack:read'); every role carries it,
+// so a 200 here proves a forwarded non-admin retained its legitimate access.
+const READ_ONLY = '/api/stacks';
+
+describe('authMiddleware - forwarded actor role (node_proxy)', () => {
+  it('keeps admin when no role header is present (direct service call)', async () => {
+    const token = signToken({ scope: 'node_proxy' });
+    const res = await request(app).get(ADMIN_ONLY).set('Authorization', `Bearer ${token}`);
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps admin when the forwarded role is admin', async () => {
+    const token = signToken({ scope: 'node_proxy' });
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .get(ADMIN_ONLY)
+      .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${token}`)
+      .set(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, 'admin');
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+  });
+
+  it('denies an admin-only route when the forwarded role is viewer', async () => {
+    const token = signToken({ scope: 'node_proxy' });
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .get(ADMIN_ONLY)
+      .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${token}`)
+      .set(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, 'viewer');
+    expect(res.status).toBe(403);
+  });
+
+  it('denies an admin-only route when the forwarded role is deployer', async () => {
+    const token = signToken({ scope: 'node_proxy' });
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .get(ADMIN_ONLY)
+      .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${token}`)
+      .set(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, 'deployer');
+    expect(res.status).toBe(403);
+  });
+
+  it('fails closed to read-only for an unrecognized forwarded role', async () => {
+    const token = signToken({ scope: 'node_proxy' });
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .get(ADMIN_ONLY)
+      .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${token}`)
+      .set(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, 'superadmin');
+    expect(res.status).toBe(403);
+  });
+
+  it('applies the same trust to pilot_tunnel bearers', async () => {
+    const token = signToken({ scope: 'pilot_tunnel' });
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .get(ADMIN_ONLY)
+      .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${token}`)
+      .set(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, 'viewer');
+    expect(res.status).toBe(403);
+  });
+
+  it('still grants a forwarded viewer its legitimate read access', async () => {
+    // The fail-closed branch must not over-restrict: a forwarded viewer keeps
+    // stack:read, so this is a 200 rather than a blanket denial.
+    const token = signToken({ scope: 'node_proxy' });
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .get(READ_ONLY)
+      .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${token}`)
+      .set(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, 'viewer');
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+  });
+
+  it('treats an unrecognized forwarded role as read-only, not zero access', async () => {
+    // "Fails closed to read-only" means viewer-equivalent: denied on admin
+    // routes (asserted above) but still allowed on stack:read reads.
+    const token = signToken({ scope: 'node_proxy' });
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .get(READ_ONLY)
+      .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${token}`)
+      .set(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, 'superadmin');
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('Security - actor-role header cannot be smuggled by a user session', () => {
+  it('ignores the role header on a cookie session (uses the DB role)', async () => {
+    const cookie = await loginAsTestAdmin(app);
+    // A browser session that tries to downgrade itself (or, by the same path,
+    // elevate) via the header must be unaffected: the header is honored only on
+    // node_proxy / pilot_tunnel bearers, and the gateway overwrites it anyway.
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .get(ADMIN_ONLY)
+      .set('Cookie', cookie)
+      .set(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, 'viewer');
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+  });
+
+  it('rejects an unauthenticated request even with a role header set', async () => {
+    const res = await request(app).get(ADMIN_ONLY).set(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, 'admin');
+    expect(res.status).toBe(401);
+  });
+
+  it('does not let a non-admin session elevate by setting the role header', async () => {
+    // The attack the header could enable: a viewer setting x-sencho-actor-role:
+    // admin on their own session. The user-session branch never reads the
+    // header (only node_proxy/pilot_tunnel does), so the DB role wins -> 403.
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .get(ADMIN_ONLY)
+      .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${viewerBearer}`)
+      .set(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, 'admin');
+    expect(res.status).toBe(403);
+  });
+});
+
+// The gateway half of the fix: the forwarding primary must overwrite the actor
+// role header from the authenticated session before forwarding, so a client
+// cannot smuggle an elevated role through to the remote. Exercised end-to-end
+// by routing a real proxied request to a loopback capture server and asserting
+// the header it received.
+describe('remote proxy gateway - actor role header forwarding', () => {
+  let captured: http.IncomingHttpHeaders | null = null;
+  let captureServer: http.Server;
+  let remoteNodeId: number;
+
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    captureServer = http.createServer((req, res) => {
+      captured = req.headers;
+      res.writeHead(200, { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' });
+      res.end('[]');
+    });
+    await new Promise<void>((resolve) => captureServer.listen(0, '127.0.0.1', resolve));
+    const port = (captureServer.address() as import('net').AddressInfo).port;
+
+    const { DatabaseService } = await import('../services/DatabaseService');
+    remoteNodeId = DatabaseService.getInstance().addNode({
+      name: 'capture-remote',
+      type: 'remote',
+      mode: 'proxy',
+      compose_dir: '/tmp',
+      is_default: false,
+      api_url: `http://127.0.0.1:${port}`,
+      api_token: 'capture-node-token',
+    });
+  });
+
+  afterAll(async () => {
+    await new Promise<void>((resolve) => captureServer.close(() => resolve()));
+  });
+
+  it('overwrites a smuggled actor-role header with the session role', async () => {
+    captured = null;
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .get(READ_ONLY)
+      .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${viewerBearer}`)
+      .set('x-node-id', String(remoteNodeId))
+      .set(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, 'admin'); // smuggled
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+    expect(captured?.[PROXY_ROLE_HEADER]).toBe('viewer');
+  });
+
+  it('forwards the session role when no header is supplied', async () => {
+    captured = null;
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .get(READ_ONLY)
+      .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${viewerBearer}`)
+      .set('x-node-id', String(remoteNodeId));
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+    expect(captured?.[PROXY_ROLE_HEADER]).toBe('viewer');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/auth.ts b/backend/src/middleware/auth.ts
index ac6aa2b9..b28119e4 100644
--- a/backend/src/middleware/auth.ts
+++ b/backend/src/middleware/auth.ts
@@ -3,11 +3,12 @@ import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
 import {
   DatabaseService,
   API_TOKEN_SCOPE_TO_ROLE,
+  isUserRole,
   type UserRole,
   type ApiTokenScope,
 } from '../services/DatabaseService';
 import { getErrorMessage } from '../utils/errors';
-import { PROXY_TIER_HEADER } from '../services/license-headers';
+import { PROXY_TIER_HEADER, PROXY_ROLE_HEADER } from '../services/license-headers';
 import { isLicenseTier, normalizeTier } from '../services/license-normalize';
 import { isDebugEnabled } from '../utils/debug';
 import {
@@ -105,7 +106,21 @@ export const authMiddleware: RequestHandler = async (req: Request, res: Response
     // after the primary itself re-signed/trusted them. Same tier-header trust
     // rules apply.
     if (decoded.scope === 'node_proxy' || decoded.scope === 'pilot_tunnel') {
-      req.user = { username: 'node-proxy', role: 'admin', userId: 0 };
+      // Preserve the originating user's RBAC across the proxy. The forwarding
+      // primary asserts the signed-in user's role on PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, trusted
+      // under the same rule as the tier header (only a valid node_proxy /
+      // pilot_tunnel bearer reaches this branch). Honor that role so a non-admin
+      // proxied here is bound to their own permissions instead of inheriting
+      // blanket admin. An absent header is a direct instance-to-instance or
+      // background service call (fleet orchestration, sync, monitor) that
+      // legitimately runs as admin; a present-but-unrecognized role fails closed
+      // to read-only rather than admin.
+      const forwardedRole = req.headers[PROXY_ROLE_HEADER] as string | undefined;
+      let role: UserRole = 'admin';
+      if (forwardedRole !== undefined) {
+        role = isUserRole(forwardedRole) ? forwardedRole : 'viewer';
+      }
+      req.user = { username: 'node-proxy', role, userId: 0 };
 
       // Distributed License Enforcement: trust tier headers only from authenticated node proxy requests.
       // Browser sessions and API tokens cannot set these; only a valid node_proxy JWT (signed with
diff --git a/backend/src/proxy/remoteNodeProxy.ts b/backend/src/proxy/remoteNodeProxy.ts
index 35d28c9b..9147c4f2 100644
--- a/backend/src/proxy/remoteNodeProxy.ts
+++ b/backend/src/proxy/remoteNodeProxy.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import type { Request, Response, NextFunction, RequestHandler } from 'express';
 import { createProxyMiddleware } from 'http-proxy-middleware';
 import { NodeRegistry } from '../services/NodeRegistry';
-import { PROXY_TIER_HEADER } from '../services/license-headers';
+import { PROXY_TIER_HEADER, PROXY_ROLE_HEADER } from '../services/license-headers';
 import { LicenseService } from '../services/LicenseService';
 import { isProxyExemptPath } from '../helpers/proxyExemptPaths';
 import { getErrorMessage } from '../utils/errors';
@@ -49,6 +49,15 @@ export function createRemoteProxyMiddleware(): RequestHandler {
         // state changes within one proxy call.
         const headers = LicenseService.getInstance().getProxyHeaders();
         proxyReq.setHeader(PROXY_TIER_HEADER, headers.tier);
+        // Forward the signed-in user's role so the remote enforces their RBAC
+        // rather than treating every proxied request as admin. Strip first so a
+        // browser/API client cannot smuggle the header through the gateway, then
+        // re-set from the authenticated session (authGate runs before this proxy,
+        // so req.user is always resolved here).
+        proxyReq.removeHeader(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER);
+        if (req.user?.role) {
+          proxyReq.setHeader(PROXY_ROLE_HEADER, req.user.role);
+        }
         // Strip the ?nodeId= query param so the remote's nodeContextMiddleware
         // doesn't reject the request with 404 ("Node X not found") - the remote
         // has no record of the gateway's node IDs and should treat the request
diff --git a/backend/src/services/DatabaseService.ts b/backend/src/services/DatabaseService.ts
index 0c1ec492..f238f311 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/DatabaseService.ts
+++ b/backend/src/services/DatabaseService.ts
@@ -304,7 +304,14 @@ export interface WebhookExecution {
 
 export type AuthProvider = 'local' | 'ldap' | 'oidc_google' | 'oidc_github' | 'oidc_okta' | 'oidc_custom';
 
-export type UserRole = 'admin' | 'viewer' | 'deployer' | 'node-admin' | 'auditor';
+// Source of truth for the role set. UserRole derives from it so the union and
+// the runtime list cannot drift (adding a role here updates both).
+export const USER_ROLES = ['admin', 'viewer', 'deployer', 'node-admin', 'auditor'] as const;
+export type UserRole = typeof USER_ROLES[number];
+/** Narrow an untrusted string (e.g. a proxied role header) to a known UserRole. */
+export function isUserRole(value: unknown): value is UserRole {
+  return typeof value === 'string' && (USER_ROLES as readonly string[]).includes(value);
+}
 export type ResourceType = 'stack' | 'node';
 
 export interface User {
diff --git a/backend/src/services/license-headers.ts b/backend/src/services/license-headers.ts
index 1044d3ec..cd65028b 100644
--- a/backend/src/services/license-headers.ts
+++ b/backend/src/services/license-headers.ts
@@ -6,3 +6,13 @@
  * authenticated as a node_proxy bearer.
  */
 export const PROXY_TIER_HEADER = 'x-sencho-tier';
+
+/**
+ * Carries the signed-in user's role from the forwarding primary to the remote
+ * node, so the remote enforces that user's RBAC instead of treating every
+ * proxied request as admin. Trusted under the same rule as PROXY_TIER_HEADER:
+ * only a request authenticated as a node_proxy/pilot_tunnel bearer may set it,
+ * and the gateway overwrites it on every proxied request so a browser or API
+ * client cannot smuggle a role through.
+ */
+export const PROXY_ROLE_HEADER = 'x-sencho-actor-role';