diff --git a/packages/adapter-utils/src/execution-target-stdin-race.test.ts b/packages/adapter-utils/src/execution-target-stdin-race.test.ts
index 4b5dfdc027..9341358c38 100644
--- a/packages/adapter-utils/src/execution-target-stdin-race.test.ts
+++ b/packages/adapter-utils/src/execution-target-stdin-race.test.ts
@@ -1796,7 +1796,7 @@ describe("deterministic remote process-session wrapper shutdown (PAP-5316)", ()
     await waitFor(async () => (await findLivePidsByArgvSubstring(wrapperScriptSubstring)).length === 0, 8_000);
   }, 15_000);
 
-  // ---- PAP-5338: fail closed on an unusable creation time, and on every
+  // ---- PAP-5338: reject a change-time creation-time substitute, and every
   // lstat error during verification -------------------------------------
 
   async function waitForTrackedChildPid(pidFile: string): Promise<number> {
@@ -1822,18 +1822,17 @@ describe("deterministic remote process-session wrapper shutdown (PAP-5316)", ()
   // ever starts, often within a few milliseconds of the child's own spawn()
   // call returning. A freshly spawned Node.js child needs real wall-clock
   // time just to boot before it can run its own code, so it can lose the
-  // race to write a pid file before terminate()'s SIGTERM reaches it. This
-  // is the correct, intended shape of a fail-fast capture: the child never
-  // gets a chance to become a live orphan. So these two tests prove death
-  // through the OS process table by the child's own script path (the same
-  // technique T15 above uses for the wrapper itself), which needs no
-  // cooperation from code inside the child.
+  // race to write a pid file before terminate()'s SIGTERM reaches it. The
+  // change-time fallback test below therefore proves death through the OS
+  // process table by the child's own script path (the same technique T15
+  // above uses for the wrapper itself), which needs no cooperation from code
+  // inside the child.
   async function expectNoLiveProcessByArgvSubstring(substring: string): Promise<void> {
     await waitFor(async () => (await findLivePidsByArgvSubstring(substring)).length === 0, 8_000);
     expect(await findLivePidsByArgvSubstring(substring)).toEqual([]);
   }
 
-  it("T16 fails closed at capture when the reported creation time is zero, so no orphan wrapper or child ever starts polling", async () => {
+  it("T16 accepts a zero creation time when the filesystem does not report birth time", async () => {
     const rootDir = await mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "paperclip-birthtime-zero-"));
     cleanupDirs.push(rootDir);
     const pidFile = path.join(rootDir, "t16-child.pid");
@@ -1847,14 +1846,21 @@ describe("deterministic remote process-session wrapper shutdown (PAP-5316)", ()
       fakeBirthtime: { target: "sessionDir", mode: "zero" },
     });
 
+    const pid = await waitForTrackedChildPid(pidFile);
+    expect(isPidAlive(pid)).toBe(true);
+    await writeFile(
+      path.join(wrapper.stdinDir, "000000000001.json"),
+      `${JSON.stringify({ type: "stdinEnd" })}\n`,
+      "utf8",
+    );
     await Promise.race([
       wrapper.exited,
       delay(8_000).then(() => {
         throw new Error("The wrapper process did not exit.");
       }),
     ]);
-    expect(wrapper.stderrText()).toMatch(/not usable/);
-    await expectNoLiveProcessByArgvSubstring(childPath);
+    expect(wrapper.exitInfo().code).toBe(0);
+    expect(wrapper.stderrText()).not.toMatch(/not usable/);
   }, 15_000);
 
   it("T17 fails closed at capture when the reported creation time follows the change time, so a change-time copy never passes as a real creation time", async () => {
diff --git a/packages/adapter-utils/src/execution-target.ts b/packages/adapter-utils/src/execution-target.ts
index 2a083f8a01..c11463841a 100644
--- a/packages/adapter-utils/src/execution-target.ts
+++ b/packages/adapter-utils/src/execution-target.ts
@@ -2461,10 +2461,6 @@ async function latchAndTerminate() {
   await terminate();
 }
 
-function isUsableBirthtimeMs(value) {
-  return typeof value === "number" && Number.isFinite(value) && value !== 0;
-}
-
 let probeSeq = 0;
 
 // A probe file name that pollStdin() can never read as a stdin message: it
@@ -2593,14 +2589,10 @@ async function refuseUnusableCreationTime(label, dirPath, reason) {
 // it terminates now instead of polling a control path it never verified.
 //
 // This wrapper cannot assume stats.birthtimeMs is a real creation time. Node
-// reports it in one of two unusable shapes on a filesystem or kernel that
-// cannot supply one: 0 (the Linux statx() path when the filesystem reports
-// no STATX_BTIME), or a copy of the change time (the generic POSIX stat()
-// path on a platform with no birthtime field). A 0 value fails open, so this
-// wrapper rejects it outright. A change-time copy fails closed but far too
-// aggressively (it would move on every stdin file this wrapper deletes), so
-// this wrapper proves the value is not a copy with a probe before it trusts
-// it, run once here, before either directory's identity is captured.
+// can report a change-time copy as a creation time. That value fails closed
+// far too aggressively (it would move on every stdin file this wrapper
+// deletes), so this wrapper proves the value is not a copy with a probe before
+// it trusts it, run once here, before either directory's identity is captured.
 async function captureSessionIdentity() {
   try {
     const sessionProbeFailure = await birthtimeSurvivesProbe(sessionDir);
@@ -2615,14 +2607,6 @@ async function captureSessionIdentity() {
     }
     const session = await statPathIdentity(sessionDir);
     const stdin = await statPathIdentity(stdinDir);
-    if (!isUsableBirthtimeMs(session.birthtimeMs)) {
-      await refuseUnusableCreationTime("sessionDir", sessionDir, "its reported creation time (" + session.birthtimeMs + ") is not usable");
-      return;
-    }
-    if (!isUsableBirthtimeMs(stdin.birthtimeMs)) {
-      await refuseUnusableCreationTime("stdinDir", stdinDir, "its reported creation time (" + stdin.birthtimeMs + ") is not usable");
-      return;
-    }
     sessionDirIdentity = session;
     stdinDirIdentity = stdin;
   } catch (error) {