diff --git a/internal/builder/archive_symlink_test.go b/internal/builder/archive_symlink_test.go
index cf5d622b..a6c2eae4 100644
--- a/internal/builder/archive_symlink_test.go
+++ b/internal/builder/archive_symlink_test.go
@@ -102,3 +102,48 @@ func TestAModuleDirectoryThatIsALinkOutOfTheRepositoryIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("an absent module directory was refused here: %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+// A repository that commits `.mesh-build` as a link must not make a bundle's build write into, or pack,
+// a directory outside the module (issue 1609): the compile, the bundling and the pack each refuse it.
+func TestABundleWhoseOutputDirectoryIsALinkOutOfTheModuleIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	outside := t.TempDir()
+	if err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(outside, "secret"), []byte("s"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	tree := t.TempDir()
+	if err := os.Symlink(outside, filepath.Join(tree, ".mesh-build")); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	chain, err := ToolchainFor("go")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	a := catalogue.Artifact{Name: "b", Kind: catalogue.ArtifactBundle, Language: "go", From: "cmd/b"}
+	ran := false
+	run := func(context.Context, string, string, ...string) (string, error) { ran = true; return "", nil }
+	realOutside, _ := filepath.EvalSymlinks(outside)
+	realTree, _ := filepath.EvalSymlinks(tree)
+
+	check := func(what string, err error) {
+		t.Helper()
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatalf("%s went through a link out of the module", what)
+		}
+		for _, want := range []string{realOutside, realTree} {
+			if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), want) {
+				t.Errorf("%s: the refusal %q does not name %q", what, err, want)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	_, err = compile(context.Background(), run, tree, chain, "base", a)
+	check("compile", err)
+	_, err = bundled(context.Background(), run, tree, chain, "base", a, nil)
+	check("bundled", err)
+	check("the pack", outsideTheModule(tree, filepath.Join(tree, Out(a.Name))))
+	if ran {
+		t.Error("a command ran for a refused bundle")
+	}
+	if entries, _ := os.ReadDir(outside); len(entries) != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("a refused bundle wrote into the directory outside: %d entries", len(entries))
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/builder/builder.go b/internal/builder/builder.go
index 4e899c0b..d4997009 100644
--- a/internal/builder/builder.go
+++ b/internal/builder/builder.go
@@ -1295,6 +1295,9 @@ func one(ctx context.Context, run Runner, publish Publisher,
 			}
 		}
 		say("bundle", "compiled, packing")
+		if err := outsideTheModule(tree, compiled); err != nil {
+			return catalogue.Built{}, fmt.Errorf("%s: packing %s failed: %w", module, a.Name, err)
+		}
 		body, err := pack(compiled)
 		if err != nil {
 			return catalogue.Built{}, fmt.Errorf("%s: packing %s failed: %w", module, a.Name, err)
@@ -1384,6 +1387,36 @@ func archiveRoot(tree string, a catalogue.Artifact) (string, error) {
 	return root, nil
 }
 
+// outsideTheModule refuses a path that, once every link in it is followed, is not inside the module's
+// directory, naming where it really is and where the module is. For a path not there yet (an output
+// directory about to be made) the deepest part that exists is the one followed. A repository commits
+// its own links, so `.mesh-build` as a link would otherwise have a bundle's build write into, and pack,
+// any directory the build account can read (issue 1609).
+func outsideTheModule(tree, path string) error {
+	realTree, err := filepath.EvalSymlinks(tree)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	real, rest := path, ""
+	for {
+		resolved, err := filepath.EvalSymlinks(real)
+		if err == nil {
+			real = filepath.Join(resolved, rest)
+			break
+		}
+		if !errors.Is(err, os.ErrNotExist) || filepath.Dir(real) == real {
+			return err
+		}
+		rest = filepath.Join(filepath.Base(real), rest)
+		real = filepath.Dir(real)
+	}
+	if rel, err := filepath.Rel(realTree, real); err != nil || rel == ".." || strings.HasPrefix(rel, ".."+string(filepath.Separator)) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s leads out of the module through a link: it resolves to %s, and the module is %s",
+			path, real, realTree)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // pack tars and gzips a directory.
 //
 // **Deterministically**: entries sorted, and no timestamps, uid, gid or original names carried
@@ -1687,6 +1720,9 @@ func compile(ctx context.Context, run Runner, tree string, chain Toolchain,
 	// a package in a third (ADR 0040). Compiling them all into one place would have them overwrite
 	// each other and then be packed together, so each bundle compiles and packs alone.
 	out := Out(a.Name)
+	if err := outsideTheModule(tree, filepath.Join(tree, out)); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
 
 	// **The output directory exists before the compiler is told about it.** `tsc --outDir` makes
 	// one; `go build -o` writes a file into a directory and does not create it, failing with a
@@ -2013,6 +2049,9 @@ func bundled(ctx context.Context, run Runner, tree string, chain Toolchain, base
 	a catalogue.Artifact, launchers map[string]string) (string, error) {
 	const within = "/app/modules/module"
 	out, final := Out(a.Name), Out(a.Name)+bundledSuffix
+	if err := outsideTheModule(tree, filepath.Join(tree, final)); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
 	if err := os.RemoveAll(filepath.Join(tree, final)); err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}