diff --git a/scripts/crontab/task/crontab_task_processor.sh b/scripts/crontab/task/crontab_task_processor.sh
index 2a6522a..d93f598 100755
--- a/scripts/crontab/task/crontab_task_processor.sh
+++ b/scripts/crontab/task/crontab_task_processor.sh
@@ -81,8 +81,17 @@ updateTaskFields() {
     jqExpr="$jqExpr | .$key = \$$key"
   done
 
+  # The processor runs as the manager user, which CANNOT create files in the
+  # docker-install-owned TASK_DIR. A plain `jq … > "$tmp"` redirect therefore
+  # failed silently, so neither `status: running` nor `status: completed` was
+  # ever written and the task was reprocessed forever. Capture jq's output and
+  # write the temp via runFileWrite (the privileged helper, like writeAtomic),
+  # then chmod + atomic mv as before.
+  local updated
+  updated=$(jq "${jqArgs[@]}" "$jqExpr" "$taskFile" 2>/dev/null) || return 1
+  [[ -z "$updated" ]] && return 1
   local tmp="${taskFile}.tmp.$$"
-  jq "${jqArgs[@]}" "$jqExpr" "$taskFile" 2>/dev/null > "$tmp" \
+  printf '%s' "$updated" | runFileWrite "$tmp" \
     && runFileOp chmod 644 "$tmp" 2>/dev/null \
     && runFileOp mv "$tmp" "$taskFile"
 }