diff --git a/src/vouch/storage.py b/src/vouch/storage.py
index 653ea806..bff01be7 100644
--- a/src/vouch/storage.py
+++ b/src/vouch/storage.py
@@ -497,7 +497,14 @@ def update_claim(self, claim: Claim) -> Claim:
 
     # --- pages -------------------------------------------------------------
 
-    def put_page(self, page: Page) -> Page:
+    def _validate_page_refs(self, page: Page) -> None:
+        """Reject dangling graph references on a Page before it lands.
+
+        Mirrors `_validate_claim_refs` and the write-time gate on
+        `put_relation`: page edits (vault-sync approve path via
+        `update_page`) must not reintroduce the gap that `put_page` already
+        closed for new pages.
+        """
         for cid in page.claims:
             if not self._claim_path(cid).exists():
                 raise ValueError(f"page {page.id} references unknown claim {cid}")
@@ -507,6 +514,9 @@ def put_page(self, page: Page) -> Page:
         for sid in page.sources:
             if not (self._source_dir(sid) / "meta.yaml").exists():
                 raise ValueError(f"page {page.id} references unknown source {sid}")
+
+    def put_page(self, page: Page) -> Page:
+        self._validate_page_refs(page)
         try:
             # Explicit UTF-8: page bodies are user / agent prose and routinely
             # contain non-ASCII (em-dashes, smart quotes, unicode in claims).
@@ -536,6 +546,14 @@ def update_page(self, page: Page) -> Page:
         """
         if not self._page_path(page.id).exists():
             raise ArtifactNotFoundError(f"page {page.id}")
+        # Re-validate the in-memory Page before persisting so model
+        # invariants hold even when a caller mutated fields in place after
+        # get_page(). Field validators only run at construction time.
+        Page.model_validate(page.model_dump(mode="json"))
+        # Re-check graph references too: an in-place mutation (or a claim
+        # deleted between propose and approve on the vault-edit path) can
+        # introduce dangling links that the model validator can't catch.
+        self._validate_page_refs(page)
         self._page_path(page.id).write_text(
             _serialize_page(page), encoding="utf-8"
         )
diff --git a/tests/test_storage.py b/tests/test_storage.py
index 03ce0fba..1d17536e 100644
--- a/tests/test_storage.py
+++ b/tests/test_storage.py
@@ -548,6 +548,37 @@ def test_check_approvable_clean_for_well_formed_proposal(
     assert check_approvable(store, pr.id, approved_by="reviewer") is None
 
 
+def test_update_page_rejects_dangling_claim_ref(store: KBStore) -> None:
+    """update_page must mirror put_page's ref guard — vault edits land here."""
+    src = store.put_source(b"e")
+    store.put_claim(Claim(id="c1", text="t", evidence=[src.id]))
+    store.put_page(
+        Page(id="p1", title="T", body="body", type=PageType.CONCEPT, claims=["c1"]),
+    )
+    bad = Page(
+        id="p1", title="T", body="updated", type=PageType.CONCEPT, claims=["ghost"],
+    )
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="unknown claim"):
+        store.update_page(bad)
+
+
+def test_approve_page_update_rejects_stale_claim_ref(store: KBStore) -> None:
+    """A claim deleted between propose and approve must not become a dangling
+    page reference — the vault-edit path routes through update_page."""
+    src = store.put_source(b"e")
+    store.put_claim(Claim(id="c1", text="t", evidence=[src.id]))
+    store.put_page(
+        Page(id="p1", title="T", body="body", type=PageType.CONCEPT, claims=["c1"]),
+    )
+    pr = propose_page(
+        store, title="T", body="updated", claim_ids=["c1"],
+        proposed_by="vault-sync", slug_hint="p1",
+    )
+    (store.kb_dir / "claims" / "c1.yaml").unlink()
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="unknown claim"):
+        approve(store, pr.id, approved_by="reviewer")
+
+
 # --- evidence -------------------------------------------------------------