diff --git a/src/utils/version.ts b/src/utils/version.ts
index 4d4b6f2e..f7c3c0e3 100644
--- a/src/utils/version.ts
+++ b/src/utils/version.ts
@@ -2,29 +2,54 @@ export function looksLikeVersion(value: string): boolean {
   return /^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(?:[-+][^/]+)?$/.test(value);
 }
 
+// Matches a well-formed X.Y.Z version, capturing an optional dot-separated
+// pre-release identifier list and discarding build metadata (semver §11.3/11.4).
+// The pre-release character class matches looksLikeVersion's admission gate
+// above (anything but '/' or '+') rather than a narrower ASCII set, so a
+// pre-release looksLikeVersion accepts can never fail this match and fall
+// through to the flat-token fallback, which would reintroduce the exact
+// precedence bug this file fixes.
+const VERSION_SHAPE = /^(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)(?:-([^/+]+))?(?:\+.*)?$/;
+
+interface ParsedVersion {
+  readonly release: readonly [number, number, number];
+  readonly prerelease: readonly string[] | null;
+}
+
 // module-level; safe to grow unbounded — a single scan sees at most
 // a few hundred unique version strings, and the cache is discarded when the process exits.
-const parsedVersionCache = new Map<string, readonly (number | string)[]>();
+const parsedVersionCache = new Map<string, ParsedVersion | null>();
 
 export function getVersionCacheSize(): number {
   return parsedVersionCache.size;
 }
 
-function parseVersionTuple(v: string): readonly (number | string)[] {
+function parseVersion(v: string): ParsedVersion | null {
   const cached = parsedVersionCache.get(v);
-  if (cached) return cached;
-  const parsed = v.split(/[.+-]/).map(n => {
-    const num = Number(n);
-    return Number.isFinite(num) ? num : n;
-  });
-  Object.freeze(parsed);
+  if (cached !== undefined) return cached;
+  const match = VERSION_SHAPE.exec(v);
+  const parsed: ParsedVersion | null = match
+    ? {
+        release: [Number(match[1]), Number(match[2]), Number(match[3])],
+        prerelease: match[4] ? match[4].split(".") : null,
+      }
+    : null;
   parsedVersionCache.set(v, parsed);
   return parsed;
 }
 
-export function compareVersions(a: string, b: string): number {
-  const pa = parseVersionTuple(a);
-  const pb = parseVersionTuple(b);
+// Legacy flat-tuple comparison, used only when at least one operand doesn't
+// match VERSION_SHAPE, so a malformed input on either side degrades to prior
+// (non-throwing) behavior instead of comparing a semver-parsed shape against
+// an unparsed one (KTD3).
+function compareFallback(a: string, b: string): number {
+  const toTuple = (v: string): readonly (number | string)[] =>
+    v.split(/[.+-]/).map(n => {
+      const num = Number(n);
+      return Number.isFinite(num) ? num : n;
+    });
+  const pa = toTuple(a);
+  const pb = toTuple(b);
   const len = Math.max(pa.length, pb.length);
   for (let i = 0; i < len; i++) {
     const av = pa[i] ?? 0;
@@ -40,6 +65,46 @@ export function compareVersions(a: string, b: string): number {
   return 0;
 }
 
+const NUMERIC_IDENTIFIER = /^\d+$/;
+
+// Compares two dot-separated pre-release identifier lists per semver §11.4:
+// numeric identifiers compare numerically, alphanumeric ones lexically, a
+// numeric identifier always has lower precedence than an alphanumeric one,
+// and (when the shared prefix is equal) a longer list outranks a shorter one.
+function compareIdentifiers(a: string, b: string): number {
+  const aIsNumeric = NUMERIC_IDENTIFIER.test(a);
+  const bIsNumeric = NUMERIC_IDENTIFIER.test(b);
+  if (aIsNumeric && bIsNumeric) return Number(a) - Number(b);
+  if (aIsNumeric !== bIsNumeric) return aIsNumeric ? -1 : 1;
+  return a < b ? -1 : a > b ? 1 : 0;
+}
+
+// A version with no pre-release outranks one with a pre-release at the same
+// release; between two pre-releases, compare identifiers left to right.
+function comparePrerelease(a: readonly string[] | null, b: readonly string[] | null): number {
+  if (a === null && b === null) return 0;
+  if (a === null) return 1;
+  if (b === null) return -1;
+  const len = Math.max(a.length, b.length);
+  for (let i = 0; i < len; i++) {
+    if (i >= a.length) return -1;
+    if (i >= b.length) return 1;
+    const cmp = compareIdentifiers(a[i], b[i]);
+    if (cmp !== 0) return cmp;
+  }
+  return 0;
+}
+
+export function compareVersions(a: string, b: string): number {
+  const pa = parseVersion(a);
+  const pb = parseVersion(b);
+  if (!pa || !pb) return compareFallback(a, b);
+  for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
+    if (pa.release[i] !== pb.release[i]) return pa.release[i] - pb.release[i];
+  }
+  return comparePrerelease(pa.prerelease, pb.prerelease);
+}
+
 export function parseExactManifestVersion(spec: string): string | null {
   const cleaned = spec.trim().replace(/^npm:/, "");
   if (looksLikeVersion(cleaned)) return cleaned;
diff --git a/tests/helpers.test.ts b/tests/helpers.test.ts
index 30c65870..cd0849e8 100644
--- a/tests/helpers.test.ts
+++ b/tests/helpers.test.ts
@@ -351,6 +351,58 @@ describe("version helpers", () => {
     expect(compareVersions("1.2.3-beta", "1.2.3-alpha")).toBeGreaterThan(0);
   });
 
+  it("ranks a pre-release below its associated release (semver 11.3)", () => {
+    expect(compareVersions("1.2.3-beta.1", "1.2.3")).toBeLessThan(0);
+    expect(compareVersions("1.2.3", "1.2.3-beta.1")).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(compareVersions("2.0.0-rc.1", "2.0.0")).toBeLessThan(0);
+  });
+
+  it("compares pre-release identifiers per semver 11.4", () => {
+    // Numeric identifiers compare by value, not lexically.
+    expect(compareVersions("1.2.3-alpha.2", "1.2.3-alpha.10")).toBeLessThan(0);
+    // Numeric identifiers always have lower precedence than alphanumeric ones.
+    expect(compareVersions("1.2.3-1", "1.2.3-alpha")).toBeLessThan(0);
+    // A longer identifier list outranks a shorter one when the shared prefix is equal.
+    expect(compareVersions("1.2.3-beta.1", "1.2.3-beta")).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+  });
+
+  it("admits every pre-release character looksLikeVersion accepts (no bug-inversion via the fallback path)", () => {
+    // looksLikeVersion accepts any non-'/' suffix after the first '-'; the semver-aware
+    // parser must accept the same set, or an underscore (etc.) silently routes both
+    // operands to the legacy fallback comparator and reintroduces the ranking-inversion
+    // bug this file fixes (see issue #1077 and its adversarial review finding).
+    expect(looksLikeVersion("1.2.3-beta_1")).toBe(true);
+    expect(compareVersions("1.2.3-beta_1", "1.2.3")).toBeLessThan(0);
+    expect(compareVersions("1.2.3", "1.2.3-beta_1")).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+  });
+
+  it("reports a pre-release install as vulnerable when the fix landed in the release (issue #1077)", () => {
+    const introduced = "1.0.0";
+    const fixed = "1.2.3";
+    const lastAffected: string | null = null;
+    const versionMatchesRange = (version: string): boolean => {
+      if (introduced !== "0" && compareVersions(version, introduced) < 0) return false;
+      if (fixed && compareVersions(version, fixed) >= 0) return false;
+      if (lastAffected && compareVersions(version, lastAffected) > 0) return false;
+      return true;
+    };
+
+    expect(versionMatchesRange("1.2.2")).toBe(true);
+    expect(versionMatchesRange("1.2.3-beta.1")).toBe(true);
+    expect(versionMatchesRange("1.2.3-rc.2")).toBe(true);
+    expect(versionMatchesRange("1.2.3")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("falls back to flat-token comparison when either operand isn't a well-formed version (KTD3)", () => {
+    // ">=1.2.3" fails VERSION_SHAPE, so both operands route through the legacy
+    // flat-token comparator: tuple [1,2,3,"beta",1] vs [">=1",2,3] disagrees at
+    // the first segment (1 vs ">=1"), settled by localeCompare -- exact parity
+    // with the pre-fix behavior for malformed input, not a thrown error.
+    expect(compareVersions("1.2.3-beta.1", ">=1.2.3")).toBe(1);
+    expect(compareVersions("not-a-version", "1.2.3")).toBe(1);
+    expect(compareVersions("1.2.3", "1.2.3")).toBe(0);
+  });
+
   it("caches parsed version tuples so identical strings are only parsed once", () => {
     const a = "99.88.77-cache-test-a.10";
     const b = "99.88.77-cache-test-b.2";
diff --git a/tests/lowest-safe-version.test.ts b/tests/lowest-safe-version.test.ts
index 25383230..3d200d61 100644
--- a/tests/lowest-safe-version.test.ts
+++ b/tests/lowest-safe-version.test.ts
@@ -123,4 +123,15 @@ describe("resolvePublishedFixVersion", () => {
     expect(result.resolvedVersion).toBe("1.0.1");
     expect(result.publishedAt).toBe("2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z");
   });
+
+  it("skips a pre-release below the fix hint and recommends the next stable release (issue #1077)", async () => {
+    // "1.2.3" (the advisory's fixed-version hint) is not published; the packument
+    // has a pre-release that sits below it and a stable release above it.
+    mockPackument(["1.2.3-beta.1", "1.2.4"]);
+
+    const result = await resolvePublishedFixVersion("tar", "1.2.3");
+
+    expect(result.resolvedVersion).toBe("1.2.4");
+    expect(result.note).toContain("using nearest published version 1.2.4");
+  });
 });