diff --git a/git-harden.sh b/git-harden.sh
index c1924da..7236f31 100755
--- a/git-harden.sh
+++ b/git-harden.sh
@@ -209,14 +209,15 @@ version_gte() {
     # shellcheck disable=SC2086
     set -- $1 $2
     IFS="$IFS_SAVE"
-    local a1="${1:-0}" a2="${2:-0}" a3="${3:-0}"
-    local b1="${4:-0}" b2="${5:-0}" b3="${6:-0}"
+    # Force base-10 interpretation to avoid octal issues with leading zeros
+    local a1=$((10#${1:-0})) a2=$((10#${2:-0})) a3=$((10#${3:-0}))
+    local b1=$((10#${4:-0})) b2=$((10#${5:-0})) b3=$((10#${6:-0}))
 
-    if [ "$a1" -gt "$b1" ] 2>/dev/null; then return 0; fi
-    if [ "$a1" -lt "$b1" ] 2>/dev/null; then return 1; fi
-    if [ "$a2" -gt "$b2" ] 2>/dev/null; then return 0; fi
-    if [ "$a2" -lt "$b2" ] 2>/dev/null; then return 1; fi
-    if [ "$a3" -ge "$b3" ] 2>/dev/null; then return 0; fi
+    if [ "$a1" -gt "$b1" ]; then return 0; fi
+    if [ "$a1" -lt "$b1" ]; then return 1; fi
+    if [ "$a2" -gt "$b2" ]; then return 0; fi
+    if [ "$a2" -lt "$b2" ]; then return 1; fi
+    if [ "$a3" -ge "$b3" ]; then return 0; fi
     return 1
 }
 
diff --git a/test/git-harden.bats b/test/git-harden.bats
index 84d9f9e..46797ef 100755
--- a/test/git-harden.bats
+++ b/test/git-harden.bats
@@ -108,6 +108,18 @@ source_functions() {
     assert_failure
 }
 
+@test "version_gte: handles leading zeros without octal error" {
+    source_functions
+    run version_gte "2.08.0" "2.07.0"
+    assert_success
+}
+
+@test "version_gte: leading zero comparison works correctly" {
+    source_functions
+    run version_gte "2.09.1" "2.09.0"
+    assert_success
+}
+
 # ===========================================================================
 # Version extraction (grep-based, not sed)
 # ===========================================================================