diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 09b6cf7..a0e003f 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3103,9 +3103,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "sysinfo"
-version = "0.39.6"
+version = "0.40.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "d2071df9448915b71c4fe6d25deaf1c22f12bd234f01540b77312bb8e41361e6"
+checksum = "0e8a3edbe0394ce115f3917a00349dd242be09eb5a091ed509eaf67b55cfb8a8"
 dependencies = [
  "libc",
  "memchr",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index e9ba601..fe450ea 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ rusqlite = { version = "0.40", features = ["bundled"] }
 thiserror = "2"
 dirs = "7"
 chrono = "0.4"
-sysinfo = "0.39"
+sysinfo = "0.40"
 
 [profile.release]
 strip = true
diff --git a/crates/zsm-core/src/lib.rs b/crates/zsm-core/src/lib.rs
index 9d2323d..8f719e2 100644
--- a/crates/zsm-core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/zsm-core/src/lib.rs
@@ -41,10 +41,15 @@ pub fn zcode_running() -> bool {
         _ => {}
     }
     use sysinfo::System;
-    let sys = System::new_all();
     let self_pid = std::process::id();
-    sys.processes().iter().any(|(pid, p)| {
-        pid.as_u32() != self_pid
-            && p.name().to_string_lossy().to_lowercase().contains("zcode")
-    })
+    // sysinfo 0.40: new_all() returns Result. Fail safe — if we cannot list
+    // processes, assume ZCode is running so destructive operations stay blocked.
+    System::new_all()
+        .map(|sys| {
+            sys.processes().iter().any(|(pid, p)| {
+                pid.as_u32() != self_pid
+                    && p.name().to_string_lossy().to_lowercase().contains("zcode")
+            })
+        })
+        .unwrap_or(true)
 }