diff --git a/src/outcomes.ts b/src/outcomes.ts
index 5989582..36d5b4f 100644
--- a/src/outcomes.ts
+++ b/src/outcomes.ts
@@ -330,9 +330,14 @@ const believedChecks = (r: VerificationResponse, options: OutcomeOptions): Map<s
  * `requireIssuerSignedStatusList`, a list signed by someone other than the
  * issuer establishes nothing either; by default it is read like the issuer's
  * own (see `believedChecks`).
+ *
+ * Nor does any list behind a seal that didn't hold: which entry of it is this
+ * credential's is the credential's own claim, so the answer is too. The
+ * library halts after a failed seal, but the rule must not depend on that,
+ * as for the dates. The same goes for the two below.
  */
 const isWithdrawn = (checks: Map<string, CheckResult>): boolean =>
-  hasProblem(checks.get(CHECK.status), PROBLEM.revoked) && !listNotIssuers(checks);
+  sealHeld(checks) && hasProblem(checks.get(CHECK.status), PROBLEM.revoked) && !listNotIssuers(checks);
 
 /**
  * The issuer has suspended this: set aside, possibly for now. verifier-core
@@ -340,15 +345,20 @@ const isWithdrawn = (checks: Map<string, CheckResult>): boolean =>
  * "withdrawn". Withdrawal leads where a credential carries both.
  */
 const isSuspended = (checks: Map<string, CheckResult>): boolean =>
-  hasProblem(checks.get(CHECK.status), PROBLEM.suspended) && !listNotIssuers(checks);
+  sealHeld(checks) && hasProblem(checks.get(CHECK.status), PROBLEM.suspended) && !listNotIssuers(checks);
 
 /**
  * The withdrawal list loaded, is believed (by default whoever signed it; with
  * `requireIssuerSignedStatusList`, only the issuer's own), and doesn't list
  * this. The only grounds for saying the issuer hasn't withdrawn it.
+ *
+ * Behind a held seal only, like its siblings above. No test can catch this
+ * guard today, since everything that reads this already stands behind a
+ * held seal; it is here because "the issuer hasn't deactivated it" is the
+ * claim that must never leak past a broken seal. Don't remove it.
  */
 const notWithdrawn = (checks: Map<string, CheckResult>): boolean =>
-  passed(checks.get(CHECK.status)) && !listNotIssuers(checks);
+  sealHeld(checks) && passed(checks.get(CHECK.status)) && !listNotIssuers(checks);
 
 /** The withdrawal check ran, failed, and established nothing either way. */
 const withdrawalUnavailable = (check: CheckResult | undefined): boolean =>
@@ -1244,7 +1254,13 @@ export const listChecks = (r: VerificationResponse, options: OutcomeOptions = {}
   });
 
   const revocation = checks.get(CHECK.status);
-  if (!hasStatusList(r)) {
+  if (!sealHeld(checks)) {
+    // Behind a seal that didn't hold, whether the credential has a list, and
+    // which entry of it is its own, are the credential's own claims: removing
+    // its status entry would otherwise read "the issuer set up no way to
+    // deactivate this". So the row reads "not checked", as Dates does.
+    rows.push({ id: CHECK.status, label: 'Status', severity: 'unchecked', value: 'not checked' });
+  } else if (!hasStatusList(r)) {
     // No list at all. Nothing failed, and we cannot say it was not withdrawn
     // either — there was no way to withdraw it. Saying so is for the issuer
     // debugging their own setup, who otherwise cannot tell this apart from a
diff --git a/test/consistency-combinations.ts b/test/consistency-combinations.ts
index a01d22c..d738185 100644
--- a/test/consistency-combinations.ts
+++ b/test/consistency-combinations.ts
@@ -642,9 +642,9 @@ export const agreementTests = (file: string): void => {
             stranger ? /^Let .+ know we couldn't check whether this copy is still active\.$/ : /^Try again in a little while\.$/,
           );
         }
-        // Only behind a seal that held: behind a broken one the Status row
-        // should be about the seal, not the list. verifier-plugin#32 is that
-        // fix, making it "not checked" whatever the list said.
+        // Only behind a seal that held: behind a broken one the Status row is
+        // about the seal and reads "not checked" whatever the list said
+        // (verifier-plugin#32), as asserted below with the Dates row.
         if (row(CHECK.signature)?.severity === 'success') {
           expect(row(CHECK.status)?.value, `${where}: the wrong Status row`).toBe(
             stranger ? "couldn't check — the information we found may not be from the issuer" : 'not checked',
@@ -772,10 +772,14 @@ export const agreementTests = (file: string): void => {
         expect(row(CHECK.signature)?.severity, `${where}: a date reported without the seal`).toBe('success');
       }
 
-      // ...and the Dates row says the same: no date at all, "in date"
-      // included, behind a seal that didn't hold.
+      // ...and the Dates and Status rows say the same: no date and no status
+      // at all behind a seal that didn't hold — not "in date", not "not
+      // deactivated", and not "no way to deactivate this", which removing a
+      // credential's status entry would otherwise buy.
       if (row(CHECK.signature)?.severity !== 'success') {
         expect(row(DATES_ROW)?.value, `${where}: the Dates row behind an unheld seal`).toBe('not checked');
+        expect(row(CHECK.status)?.value, `${where}: the Status row behind an unheld seal`).toBe('not checked');
+        expect(row(CHECK.status)?.severity, `${where}: the Status row behind an unheld seal`).toBe('unchecked');
       }
 
       // Only the library says a credential has run out. An end date in the
diff --git a/test/outcomes.test.ts b/test/outcomes.test.ts
index eb3ab94..d4f92dc 100644
--- a/test/outcomes.test.ts
+++ b/test/outcomes.test.ts
@@ -589,12 +589,33 @@ describe('an action names the issuer only when the seal held', () => {
   });
 
   it('says "the issuer" when the seal never reported', () => {
+    // "Built wrong" is about the file, so it leads even behind an unchecked
+    // seal, and its action is the one that would name them.
+    const r = withSchema(missingProperty);
+    remove(r, CHECK.signature);
+    const out = summarise(r);
+    expect(out.code).toBe('malformed');
+    expect(out.action).toBe("The issuer needs to fix how this was issued. There's nothing for you to do.");
+  });
+
+  it('believes no withdrawal when the seal never reported', () => {
+    // Which entry of the list is this credential's is its own claim, so a
+    // withdrawal behind an unchecked seal is no more believed than an expiry.
+    // The library halts after a failed seal; the rule must not depend on it.
     const r = ok();
     revoke(r);
     remove(r, CHECK.signature);
-    const out = summarise(r);
-    expect(out.code).toBe('withdrawn');
-    expect(out.action).toBe('Ask the issuer for a current copy.');
+    expect(summarise(r).code).toBe('signature_unchecked');
+    expect(listChecks(r).find((c) => c.id === CHECK.status)).toMatchObject({ severity: 'unchecked', value: 'not checked' });
+  });
+
+  it('believes no hold when the seal never reported', () => {
+    // As for a withdrawal, the same for a hold.
+    const r = ok();
+    set(r, revokedBy(PROBLEM.suspended, 'Credential Suspended'));
+    remove(r, CHECK.signature);
+    expect(summarise(r).code).toBe('signature_unchecked');
+    expect(listChecks(r).find((c) => c.id === CHECK.status)).toMatchObject({ severity: 'unchecked', value: 'not checked' });
   });
 
   it.each([
@@ -1894,6 +1915,40 @@ describe('an expired credential, now that expiry stops nothing after it', () =>
   });
 });
 
+describe('the Status row behind a seal that did not hold', () => {
+  // verifier-plugin#32. Whether a credential has a status list, and which
+  // entry of it is its own, are the credential's claims; behind a broken
+  // seal they are worth nothing, so the row says "not checked".
+  it.each([
+    ['tampered', () => tamperedSignature()],
+    ['unreachable', () => fail(CHECK.signature, [{ type: PROBLEM.didWebUnresolved, title: 't', detail: 'd' }], true)],
+  ])('reads "not checked" when the seal is %s and there is no list', (_, signature) => {
+    const r = ok();
+    r.verifiableCredential = { ...withoutStatusList };
+    remove(r, CHECK.status);
+    set(r, signature());
+    expect(row(r, CHECK.status)).toMatchObject({ severity: 'unchecked', value: 'not checked' });
+  });
+
+  it.each([
+    ['came back clear', () => pass(CHECK.status, 'Credential status is valid (not revoked or suspended).')],
+    ['says deactivated', () => revokedBy(PROBLEM.revoked, 'Credential Revoked')],
+    ['says on hold', () => revokedBy(PROBLEM.suspended, 'Credential Suspended')],
+  ])('reads "not checked" when the seal is tampered and the list %s', (_, status) => {
+    // "Not checked" whatever the list said. Either the row's own guard or the
+    // matching predicate's is enough to pass these: notWithdrawn's for a list
+    // that came back clear, isWithdrawn's and isSuspended's for the other two.
+    // The row's guard alone is pinned by the "no list" cases above;
+    // isWithdrawn's and isSuspended's by "believes no withdrawal" and
+    // "believes no hold when the seal never reported". notWithdrawn's can't
+    // be pinned alone (see its docblock).
+    const r = ok();
+    set(r, tamperedSignature());
+    set(r, status());
+    expect(row(r, CHECK.status)).toMatchObject({ severity: 'unchecked', value: 'not checked' });
+  });
+});
+
 describe('dates nobody checked, though the seal held', () => {
   // A check that throws comes back as a failure carrying CHECK_ERROR, with no
   // date named; a run limited to some phases leaves no row at all.