diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci-deploy.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci-deploy.yml
index 6af31c5a..34225e8d 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci-deploy.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci-deploy.yml
@@ -123,17 +123,66 @@ jobs:
         env:
           BASIC_AUTH_USER: ${{ secrets.BASIC_AUTH_USER }}
           BASIC_AUTH_PASS: ${{ secrets.BASIC_AUTH_PASS }}
+        # Two-step warm with body validation. Run 544 was bitten by cache
+        # poisoning: the upstream WAF returned its HTML block-page with
+        # HTTP 200, the previous prewarm only checked %{http_code}, so
+        # nginx happily cached the HTML as a valid 200 for 6h and every
+        # subsequent dictionary read returned HTML instead of JSON.
+        #
+        # Step 1: validate upstream via cache-bust query (`?_=<ts>` lands
+        #         on a unique nginx cache key, forcing an upstream fetch).
+        # Step 2: warm + validate the canonical URL. If the canonical
+        #         response is HTML, attempt one cache-bypass retry
+        #         (`Cache-Control: no-cache` — works after the matching
+        #         nginx config update). If still HTML, fail loudly with a
+        #         purge instruction so the operator can clear cache.
         run: |
-          # The four dictionary endpoints (see src/shared/dictionaries/api.ts)
-          # are read by every page load — fetch them once before e2e to warm
-          # nginx's proxy_cache. Subsequent e2e fetches hit the cache instead
-          # of the upstream WAF, which has a low per-source-IP rate limit.
-          # Brief sleep between requests to avoid tripping the WAF on the
-          # cold-cache pass.
+          set -euo pipefail
+          is_json() {
+            local body="$1"
+            local first_byte=${body:0:1}
+            [ "$first_byte" = "[" ] || [ "$first_byte" = "{" ] || return 1
+            [ ${#body} -gt 1024 ] || return 1
+          }
+          fail_with_body() {
+            local label="$1" body="$2"
+            echo "::error::pre-warm failed: $label" >&2
+            echo "first 200 bytes of body:" >&2
+            printf '%s\n' "${body:0:200}" >&2
+            exit 1
+          }
+
           for path in world_regions countries cities airports; do
-            url="https://ui-dashboard.gnerim.ru/api/dictionary/1/${path}"
-            rc=$(curl -k -sS -u "$BASIC_AUTH_USER:$BASIC_AUTH_PASS" -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "$url")
-            echo "warm $path -> HTTP $rc"
+            base="https://ui-dashboard.gnerim.ru/api/dictionary/1/${path}"
+
+            # Step 1: prove upstream is healthy (cache-bust via query).
+            bust_url="${base}?_=$(date +%s%N)"
+            bust_body=$(curl -k -sS -u "$BASIC_AUTH_USER:$BASIC_AUTH_PASS" \
+              --max-time 15 "$bust_url")
+            if ! is_json "$bust_body"; then
+              fail_with_body "${path} upstream returned non-JSON (WAF rate-limit?)" "$bust_body"
+            fi
+
+            # Step 2: warm + validate canonical URL.
+            cano_body=$(curl -k -sS -u "$BASIC_AUTH_USER:$BASIC_AUTH_PASS" \
+              --max-time 15 "$base")
+            if ! is_json "$cano_body"; then
+              # Canonical hit poisoned cache. Force-refresh once via
+              # `Cache-Control: no-cache` (proxy_cache_bypass on the
+              # /api/dictionary/ location forwards to upstream, then
+              # stores the fresh response).
+              cano_body=$(curl -k -sS -u "$BASIC_AUTH_USER:$BASIC_AUTH_PASS" \
+                -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" \
+                --max-time 15 "$base")
+              if ! is_json "$cano_body"; then
+                echo "::error::cache poisoned for ${path} — Cache-Control: no-cache did not refresh" >&2
+                echo "::error::manual purge: ssh pve-201 'rm -rf /var/cache/nginx/flights-api/* && systemctl reload nginx'" >&2
+                fail_with_body "${path} canonical URL still non-JSON after bypass" "$cano_body"
+              fi
+              echo "warm $path -> ok via cache-bypass (cache had been poisoned, now refreshed; ${#cano_body} bytes)"
+            else
+              echo "warm $path -> ok (${#cano_body} bytes)"
+            fi
             sleep 2
           done
           echo "--- verify cache HIT on a re-fetch ---"
diff --git a/deployment/nginx/conf.d/flights-api-cache.conf b/deployment/nginx/conf.d/flights-api-cache.conf
index 6e9aa195..ca460b07 100644
--- a/deployment/nginx/conf.d/flights-api-cache.conf
+++ b/deployment/nginx/conf.d/flights-api-cache.conf
@@ -13,3 +13,14 @@ proxy_cache_path /var/cache/nginx/flights-api
                  max_size=200m
                  inactive=30m
                  use_temp_path=off;
+
+# Don't cache upstream responses whose Content-Type is HTML — the upstream
+# WAF returns its block page ("Доступ к сайту временно ограничен") with
+# HTTP 200 + text/html, and prior to this filter nginx happily cached that
+# as a valid 200 for the next 6h, poisoning every subsequent dictionary
+# read for the SSR app. Pair with `proxy_no_cache $no_cache_html;` in the
+# server block.
+map $upstream_http_content_type $no_cache_html {
+    ~*text/html  1;
+    default      "";
+}
diff --git a/deployment/nginx/ui-dashboard.gnerim.ru.conf b/deployment/nginx/ui-dashboard.gnerim.ru.conf
index 413be9f9..accd0d44 100644
--- a/deployment/nginx/ui-dashboard.gnerim.ru.conf
+++ b/deployment/nginx/ui-dashboard.gnerim.ru.conf
@@ -61,6 +61,15 @@ server {
         proxy_cache_valid      404 5m;
         proxy_cache_lock       on;
         proxy_cache_use_stale  error timeout updating http_403 http_500 http_502 http_503 http_504;
+        # Allow CI to force a re-fetch when the cache is suspected stale
+        # (Cache-Control: no-cache from client → bypass on this hit, then
+        # store the fresh response). Already enabled below for /api/.
+        proxy_cache_bypass     $http_cache_control;
+        # Refuse to cache the WAF block page (text/html). $no_cache_html
+        # is set in conf.d/flights-api-cache.conf based on upstream's
+        # Content-Type. Without this, a single rate-limited fetch
+        # poisoned the cache for 6h.
+        proxy_no_cache         $no_cache_html;
         add_header             X-Cache-Status $upstream_cache_status always;
     }