diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 981b2e4338..d0ce6d9a07 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -237,7 +237,19 @@ opt-level = 1
 inherits = "release"
 lto = "thin"
 codegen-units = 1
-panic = "unwind"
+# MUST match [profile.release] (#7302). `dist` is what release-packages.yml
+# builds the SHIPPED libperry_{runtime,stdlib}.a with, and the exception
+# transport requires the unwinder to step runtime Rust frames with
+# longjmp-equivalent semantics. Under panic="unwind" rustc plants RFC-2945
+# abort-on-unwind guards in every `extern "C"` helper that contains an
+# interior Rust call, so a JS throw crossing such a helper — a throwing
+# getter, a JSON.parse error, a throwing map callback — aborts the process
+# instead of being caught. This line said "unwind" and so overrode the
+# inherited value: it made the shipped runtime, and only the shipped
+# runtime, fail that way. Paired with -C force-unwind-tables=yes from
+# .cargo/config.toml; the runtime self-checks for the tables on the first
+# `try` and aborts loudly if they are missing.
+panic = "abort"
 strip = true
 opt-level = 3
 
diff --git a/changelog.d/7309-dist-profile-panic-abort.md b/changelog.d/7309-dist-profile-panic-abort.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..49e580c2f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/7309-dist-profile-panic-abort.md
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+### Fix: the SHIPPED runtime was built with the wrong panic strategy (#7302)
+
+The exception transport (#7305) requires the unwinder to step through runtime
+Rust frames with `longjmp`-equivalent semantics, which is why
+`[profile.release]` moved to `panic = "abort"`: under `panic = "unwind"`
+rustc plants RFC-2945 abort-on-unwind guards in every `extern "C"` function
+containing an interior Rust call, so a JS throw crossing such a helper — a
+throwing getter, a `JSON.parse` error, a throwing `map` callback — aborts the
+process instead of being caught.
+
+`[profile.dist]` — what `release-packages.yml` builds the shipped
+`libperry_{runtime,stdlib}.a` with — *inherits* `release` but then
+re-declared `panic = "unwind"`, and an explicit re-declaration wins over
+`inherits`. #7305 changed only `[profile.release]`, so **every local build,
+every CI job and the entire parity suite were correct while the artifact
+users install would have aborted on the first cross-helper throw.** Nothing
+failed to compile and nothing went red; the two configurations differ only in
+the profile the release workflow happens to use.
+
+Confirmed directly from the rustc invocations (`cargo build --profile dist
+-v`): before, `force-unwind-tables=yes` with no `-C panic=abort`; after, both
+present. Caught before any release was cut from the merged EH work.
+
+Guarded so it cannot recur silently: `crates/perry/src/panic_profile_contract.rs`
+runs in `cargo-test` (per PR) and asserts that every profile which builds a
+shipped runtime archive declares `panic = "abort"` — deliberately treating
+`inherits` as *not* evidence, since an innocuous-looking override is exactly
+the failure mode. A second test pins `-C force-unwind-tables=yes` in
+`.cargo/config.toml`, because abort alone omits the tables and the transport
+cannot step runtime frames without them. Both were falsified before landing:
+re-introducing the `unwind` value fails the first test with the diagnostic
+above.
diff --git a/crates/perry/src/main.rs b/crates/perry/src/main.rs
index 5c4fd7f450..5d19940525 100644
--- a/crates/perry/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/perry/src/main.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 mod commands;
 mod compat_reports;
 #[cfg(test)]
+mod panic_profile_contract;
 mod shadow_layout_contract;
 mod telemetry;
 #[cfg(test)]
diff --git a/crates/perry/src/panic_profile_contract.rs b/crates/perry/src/panic_profile_contract.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0f0c49acca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/perry/src/panic_profile_contract.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+//! The panic-strategy contract for every profile that builds a runtime
+//! archive Perry links into compiled programs (#7302).
+//!
+//! The exception transport requires the unwinder to step *through* runtime
+//! Rust frames with `longjmp`-equivalent semantics. Under
+//! `panic = "unwind"` rustc plants RFC-2945 abort-on-unwind guards in every
+//! `extern "C"` function that contains an interior Rust call, so a JS throw
+//! crossing such a helper — a throwing getter, a `JSON.parse` error, a
+//! throwing `map` callback — aborts the process instead of being caught.
+//!
+//! This is not hypothetical and it is not caught by any other gate:
+//! `[profile.dist]` (what `release-packages.yml` builds the SHIPPED
+//! `libperry_{runtime,stdlib}.a` with) *inherits* `release` but then
+//! re-declared `panic = "unwind"`, which wins. #7302 changed only
+//! `[profile.release]`, so every local build, every CI job and the whole
+//! parity suite were correct while the artifact users install would have
+//! aborted on the first cross-helper throw. Nothing failed to compile;
+//! nothing went red.
+//!
+//! So the invariant is asserted here, in `cargo-test` (per PR), by reading
+//! the workspace manifest: a profile that ships a runtime must say
+//! `panic = "abort"`, and `inherits` is not accepted as evidence because
+//! the failure mode is precisely an override that looks harmless.
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    /// Profiles used to build runtime archives that get linked into user
+    /// programs. `perry-dev` inherits release and never re-declares panic,
+    /// but it is listed so that a future re-declaration is caught too.
+    const SHIPPING_PROFILES: &[&str] = &["release", "dist", "perry-dev"];
+
+    fn workspace_manifest() -> String {
+        let path = concat!(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"), "/../../Cargo.toml");
+        std::fs::read_to_string(path)
+            .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("workspace manifest unreadable at {path}: {e}"))
+    }
+
+    /// The `panic = ...` value declared *directly* in `[profile.<name>]`,
+    /// or `None` when the profile does not re-declare it (and therefore
+    /// takes its parent's).
+    fn declared_panic(manifest: &str, profile: &str) -> Option<String> {
+        let header = format!("[profile.{profile}]");
+        let start = manifest
+            .find(&header)
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("[profile.{profile}] not found in the workspace manifest"))
+            + header.len();
+        let body = &manifest[start..];
+        // Stop at the next table header so a `[profile.X.package.Y]`
+        // override block is not misread as part of this profile.
+        let end = body.find("\n[").unwrap_or(body.len());
+        for line in body[..end].lines() {
+            let line = line.trim();
+            if let Some(rest) = line.strip_prefix("panic") {
+                let rest = rest.trim_start();
+                if let Some(v) = rest.strip_prefix('=') {
+                    return Some(v.trim().trim_matches('"').to_string());
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        None
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn shipping_profiles_build_the_runtime_panic_abort() {
+        let manifest = workspace_manifest();
+        // The subject must be LIVE: if the parser stops finding the key it
+        // is measuring nothing, and every profile would pass vacuously.
+        assert_eq!(
+            declared_panic(&manifest, "release").as_deref(),
+            Some("abort"),
+            "[profile.release] must declare panic = \"abort\" (see module docs)"
+        );
+
+        for profile in SHIPPING_PROFILES {
+            match declared_panic(&manifest, profile) {
+                // Re-declared: it must be abort. An `inherits` line does
+                // NOT protect against this — that is exactly how the
+                // shipped `dist` runtime ended up on the unwind strategy.
+                Some(v) => assert_eq!(
+                    v, "abort",
+                    "[profile.{profile}] declares panic = \"{v}\"; a runtime built that way \
+                     aborts the process on any JS throw that crosses an extern \"C\" helper \
+                     with an interior Rust call (RFC 2945). See the module docs."
+                ),
+                // Not re-declared: inherits release, which the assertion
+                // above pinned to abort.
+                None => {}
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The abort strategy is only half the contract: `panic = "abort"`
+    /// omits unwind tables by default, and without them the unwinder cannot
+    /// step runtime frames at all — every cross-helper throw is stranded
+    /// rather than caught. The flag lives in `.cargo/config.toml` because a
+    /// profile cannot carry rustflags.
+    #[test]
+    fn unwind_tables_are_forced_for_the_workspace() {
+        let path = concat!(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"), "/../../.cargo/config.toml");
+        let cfg = std::fs::read_to_string(path)
+            .unwrap_or_else(|e| panic!("cargo config unreadable at {path}: {e}"));
+        let normalized = cfg.replace(['"', ' ', '\n'], "");
+        assert!(
+            normalized.contains("force-unwind-tables=yes"),
+            ".cargo/config.toml must force unwind tables: panic=abort omits them, and the \
+             exception transport cannot step runtime frames without them (the runtime \
+             self-checks on the first `try` and aborts loudly). See the module docs."
+        );
+    }
+}