diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/test/vulns/advisory_database_spec.rb b/Library/Homebrew/test/vulns/advisory_database_spec.rb
index 4ff6558656..a52a24a1bb 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/test/vulns/advisory_database_spec.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/test/vulns/advisory_database_spec.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,12 @@ RSpec.describe Homebrew::Vulns::AdvisoryDatabase do
 
     it "raises Error when the advisories key is missing" do
       expect { described_class.new({ "meta" => {} }) }
-        .to raise_error(Homebrew::Vulns::CachedFeed::Error, /missing 'advisories' key/)
+        .to raise_error(Homebrew::Vulns::CachedFeed::Error, /no 'advisories' key/)
+    end
+
+    it "distinguishes a wrong-type advisories value from a missing key" do
+      expect { described_class.new({ "advisories" => [] }) }
+        .to raise_error(Homebrew::Vulns::CachedFeed::Error, /'advisories' is not a JSON object/)
     end
   end
 
@@ -89,6 +94,19 @@ RSpec.describe Homebrew::Vulns::AdvisoryDatabase do
       expect(corpus.status_for("nope", "1.0")).to be_nil
     end
 
+    it "ignores :not_applicable records rather than counting them as fixed or patched" do
+      d = db({ "foo" => [
+        record("BREW-foo-CVE-1", "foo",
+               events: [{ "introduced" => "2.0" }, { "fixed" => "3.0" }], fix: "bump"),
+        record("BREW-foo-CVE-2", "foo",
+               events: [{ "introduced" => "2.0" }, { "fixed" => "3.0" }], fix: "patch"),
+      ] })
+      status = d.status_for("foo", "1.0")
+      expect(status["open"]).to eq []
+      expect(status["patched"]).to eq []
+      expect(status["fixed_count"]).to eq 0
+    end
+
     it "compacts nil fields out of each entry hash" do
       status = corpus.status_for("unzip", "6.0_29")
       expect(status["open"].first.keys).to eq %w[id upstream]
diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/vulns/advisory_database.rb b/Library/Homebrew/vulns/advisory_database.rb
index b4fe35736f..d284c4a6c3 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/vulns/advisory_database.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/vulns/advisory_database.rb
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@ module Homebrew
       def initialize(data)
         super
         raise Error, "advisory index is not a JSON object" unless (top = as_hash(data))
-        raise Error, "advisory index missing 'advisories' key" unless (advisories = as_hash(top["advisories"]))
+        raise Error, "advisory index has no 'advisories' key" unless top.key?("advisories")
+        unless (advisories = as_hash(top["advisories"]))
+          raise Error, "advisory index 'advisories' is not a JSON object"
+        end
 
         @advisories = T.let(advisories, T::Hash[String, T.untyped])
         @meta = T.let(as_hash(top["meta"]) || {}, T::Hash[String, T.untyped])
@@ -89,12 +92,15 @@ module Homebrew
             fix:      eco["fix"],
             fixed_in: status&.fixed_in,
           ).freeze
-          if status.nil? || status.affected?
-            open << entry
-          elsif eco["fix"] == "patch"
-            patched << entry
-          else
-            fixed_count += 1
+          case status&.state
+          when nil, :affected then open << entry
+          when :fixed
+            if eco["fix"] == "patch"
+              patched << entry
+            else
+              fixed_count += 1
+            end
+          when :not_applicable then next
           end
         end