diff --git a/plugins/llm-security/scanners/lib/string-utils.mjs b/plugins/llm-security/scanners/lib/string-utils.mjs
index f545343..e1c80fb 100644
--- a/plugins/llm-security/scanners/lib/string-utils.mjs
+++ b/plugins/llm-security/scanners/lib/string-utils.mjs
@@ -292,6 +292,14 @@ export function collapseLetterSpacing(s) {
  * Unicode Tags (U+E0000 block) can encode invisible ASCII text inside
  * what appears to be empty or normal-looking strings.
  * E.g., U+E0069 U+E0067 U+E006E → "ign"
+ *
+ * **Note (E1, v7.2.0):** Tag-block characters decode to ASCII via the
+ * `cp - 0xE0000` mapping. Private Use Areas (PUA-A: U+F0000-FFFFD;
+ * PUA-B: U+100000-10FFFD) are also detected as hidden Unicode by
+ * `containsUnicodeTags`, but they have NO standard ASCII mapping —
+ * they pass through this function unchanged. Detection of PUA presence
+ * is sufficient (HIGH advisory in scanForInjection), no decode needed.
+ *
  * @param {string} s
  * @returns {string}
  */
@@ -323,15 +331,33 @@ export function decodeUnicodeTags(s) {
 }
 
 /**
- * Check if a string contains Unicode Tag characters (U+E0001-E007F).
- * Presence of these characters is suspicious regardless of decoded content.
+ * Check if a string contains hidden-Unicode characters that are commonly
+ * used for steganography in prompts and tool output.
+ *
+ * Covered ranges:
+ *   - U+E0001-E007F  Unicode Tag block (DeepMind traps kat. 1)
+ *   - U+F0000-FFFFD  Supplementary Private Use Area-A (E1, v7.2.0)
+ *   - U+100000-10FFFD Supplementary Private Use Area-B (E1, v7.2.0)
+ *
+ * Presence of any of these characters is suspicious regardless of
+ * decoded content — they are invisible in most terminals and survive
+ * normalization. The function name `containsUnicodeTags` is preserved
+ * for back-compat (existing call sites in injection-patterns.mjs and
+ * elsewhere); semantically it is now "containsHiddenUnicode".
+ *
+ * Tag-block characters decode to ASCII via `decodeUnicodeTags`. PUA
+ * characters do NOT — they have no standard mapping and remain
+ * detection-only.
+ *
  * @param {string} s
  * @returns {boolean}
  */
 export function containsUnicodeTags(s) {
   for (const ch of s) {
     const cp = ch.codePointAt(0);
-    if (cp >= 0xE0001 && cp <= 0xE007F) return true;
+    if (cp >= 0xE0001 && cp <= 0xE007F) return true;       // Tag block
+    if (cp >= 0xF0000 && cp <= 0xFFFFD) return true;       // PUA-A (E1)
+    if (cp >= 0x100000 && cp <= 0x10FFFD) return true;     // PUA-B (E1)
   }
   return false;
 }
diff --git a/plugins/llm-security/tests/lib/string-utils-hidden-unicode.test.mjs b/plugins/llm-security/tests/lib/string-utils-hidden-unicode.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..48e8468
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/llm-security/tests/lib/string-utils-hidden-unicode.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+// string-utils-hidden-unicode.test.mjs — E1 (v7.2.0) — extended hidden-Unicode detection
+//
+// Critical-review §4 E1 finding: pre-v7.2.0 the Unicode-stego detector
+// covered only U+E0001-E007F (Tag block). PUA-A (U+F0000-FFFFD) and
+// PUA-B (U+100000-10FFFD) — also invisible in most terminals — were not
+// detected. Attackers can encode payloads in PUA codepoints that survive
+// normalization and pass through `scanForInjection` undetected.
+//
+// E1 fix: extend `containsUnicodeTags` to cover both PUAs. PUA chars are
+// detection-only — no ASCII mapping exists, so `decodeUnicodeTags` leaves
+// them unchanged.
+
+import { describe, it } from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import {
+  containsUnicodeTags,
+  decodeUnicodeTags,
+} from '../../scanners/lib/string-utils.mjs';
+
+describe('containsUnicodeTags — Tag block (regression guard)', () => {
+  it('returns true for U+E0001 (start of Tag block)', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags('hello' + String.fromCodePoint(0xE0001)), true);
+  });
+
+  it('returns true for U+E0069 ("i" tag)', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags(String.fromCodePoint(0xE0069)), true);
+  });
+
+  it('returns true for U+E007F (end of Tag block)', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags(String.fromCodePoint(0xE007F)), true);
+  });
+
+  it('returns false for plain ASCII', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags('plain text'), false);
+  });
+
+  it('returns false for empty string', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags(''), false);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('containsUnicodeTags — PUA-A range (E1)', () => {
+  it('returns true for U+F0000 (start of PUA-A)', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags('hello' + String.fromCodePoint(0xF0000)), true);
+  });
+
+  it('returns true for U+F0001 (just inside PUA-A)', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags(String.fromCodePoint(0xF0001)), true);
+  });
+
+  it('returns true for U+FFFFD (end of PUA-A)', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags(String.fromCodePoint(0xFFFFD)), true);
+  });
+
+  it('returns true for PUA-A char buried in ASCII', () => {
+    const payload = 'normal text' + String.fromCodePoint(0xF0042) + 'more text';
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags(payload), true);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('containsUnicodeTags — PUA-B range (E1)', () => {
+  it('returns true for U+100000 (start of PUA-B)', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags('hello' + String.fromCodePoint(0x100000)), true);
+  });
+
+  it('returns true for U+100001 (just inside PUA-B)', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags(String.fromCodePoint(0x100001)), true);
+  });
+
+  it('returns true for U+10FFFD (end of PUA-B, just below noncharacter)', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags(String.fromCodePoint(0x10FFFD)), true);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('containsUnicodeTags — boundary cases (E1)', () => {
+  it('returns false for U+EFFFF (just below PUA-A start)', () => {
+    // U+E0080 to U+EFFFF — a gap between Tag block and PUA-A
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags(String.fromCodePoint(0xEFFFF)), false);
+  });
+
+  it('returns false for U+E0080 (just past Tag block end)', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags(String.fromCodePoint(0xE0080)), false);
+  });
+
+  it('returns false for U+E0000 (just below Tag block start)', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags(String.fromCodePoint(0xE0000)), false);
+  });
+
+  it('returns false for U+10FFFE (noncharacter — outside PUA-B)', () => {
+    // U+10FFFE and U+10FFFF are noncharacters, not PUA. Out of range.
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags(String.fromCodePoint(0x10FFFE)), false);
+  });
+
+  it('returns false for emoji and other plane chars', () => {
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags('🚀'), false);  // U+1F680
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags('日本'), false);  // CJK
+    assert.equal(containsUnicodeTags('café'), false); // Latin Extended
+  });
+});
+
+describe('decodeUnicodeTags — PUA passthrough (E1)', () => {
+  it('leaves PUA-A characters unchanged (no ASCII mapping)', () => {
+    const puaChar = String.fromCodePoint(0xF0001);
+    const input = `before${puaChar}after`;
+    const result = decodeUnicodeTags(input);
+    assert.equal(result, input);
+  });
+
+  it('leaves PUA-B characters unchanged', () => {
+    const puaBChar = String.fromCodePoint(0x100042);
+    const input = `before${puaBChar}after`;
+    const result = decodeUnicodeTags(input);
+    assert.equal(result, input);
+  });
+
+  it('still decodes Tag block (regression guard)', () => {
+    // U+E0069 U+E0067 U+E006E → "ign"
+    const tags = String.fromCodePoint(0xE0069) + String.fromCodePoint(0xE0067) + String.fromCodePoint(0xE006E);
+    const result = decodeUnicodeTags(tags);
+    assert.equal(result, 'ign');
+  });
+
+  it('handles mixed Tag + PUA — decodes Tag, passes PUA through', () => {
+    // "i" tag + PUA-A char + "g" tag + "n" tag
+    const tagI = String.fromCodePoint(0xE0069);
+    const puaA = String.fromCodePoint(0xF0042);
+    const tagG = String.fromCodePoint(0xE0067);
+    const tagN = String.fromCodePoint(0xE006E);
+    const input = tagI + puaA + tagG + tagN;
+    const result = decodeUnicodeTags(input);
+    // Tag chars are flushed when a non-tag (PUA) character is encountered.
+    // Implementation detail: result is `i${puaA}gn`.
+    assert.ok(result.includes('i'), `expected 'i' in result, got: ${[...result].map(c => 'U+' + c.codePointAt(0).toString(16)).join(' ')}`);
+    assert.ok(result.includes(puaA), 'PUA char must remain undecoded');
+    assert.ok(result.includes('gn') || result.includes('g') && result.includes('n'), 'gn tags must decode');
+  });
+});