diff --git a/.github/workflows/se050-sim.yml b/.github/workflows/se050-sim.yml
index 9799ddb307..5aa49bafe0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/se050-sim.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/se050-sim.yml
@@ -31,14 +31,16 @@ permissions:
 # We patch it to COPY the PR checkout instead so CI reflects the PR's source.
 
 env:
-  SIMULATORS_REF: 745893640e21a15b7df8c70567c522953aba2f2c
+  SIMULATORS_REF: 41f85a521c66a3f7ed57fda745a39495f493e9d9
 
 jobs:
   se050_sim:
     name: wolfCrypt against SE050 simulator (${{ matrix.name }})
     if: ${{ (github.repository_owner == 'wolfssl') && (github.event_name != 'pull_request' || github.event.pull_request.draft == false) }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
-    timeout-minutes: 30
+    # Cold image rebuilds (registry cache miss after a SIMULATORS_REF bump,
+    # until the weekend cron refreshes the cache) need well over 30 minutes.
+    timeout-minutes: 60
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
@@ -100,4 +102,8 @@ jobs:
           cache-to: ${{ ((github.event_name == 'schedule' || github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch') && matrix.name == 'default') && 'type=registry,ref=ghcr.io/wolfssl/wolfssl-sim-cache:se050,mode=max' || '' }}
 
       - name: Run wolfCrypt tests against simulator
-        run: docker run --rm wolfssl-se050-sim:ci-${{ matrix.name }}
+        # SE050_SIM_STRICT_ECDH=1 makes the simulator enforce the applet 7.2
+        # ECDH InObject contract: the Tag7 target must be pre-created as an
+        # HMACKey object of exactly the shared-secret size or the derive is
+        # refused with SW 0x6985, matching SE05x applet >= 7.2 hardware.
+        run: docker run --rm -e SE050_SIM_STRICT_ECDH=1 wolfssl-se050-sim:ci-${{ matrix.name }}
diff --git a/wolfcrypt/src/port/nxp/se050_port.c b/wolfcrypt/src/port/nxp/se050_port.c
index 5e62fed708..1b9aa7db45 100644
--- a/wolfcrypt/src/port/nxp/se050_port.c
+++ b/wolfcrypt/src/port/nxp/se050_port.c
@@ -2850,25 +2850,42 @@ int se050_ecc_shared_secret(ecc_key* private_key, ecc_key* public_key,
         status = sss_key_object_allocate_handle(&deriveKey,
             keyIdAes,
             kSSS_KeyPart_Default,
-            kSSS_CipherType_Binary,
+            kSSS_CipherType_HMAC,
             keySize,
             kKeyObject_Mode_Transient);
     }
+    if (status == kStatus_SSS_Success) {
+        byte keyBuf[MAX_ECC_BYTES];
+
+        /* Try to delete existing key first, ignore return since will
+         * fail if no key exists yet */
+        sss_key_store_erase_key(&host_keystore, &deriveKey);
+
+        /* SE05x applet 7.2 and later stores the ECDH result into an
+         * existing HMACKey object whose size must equal the shared
+         * secret exactly, so the object must be created before the
+         * derive (returns SW 0x6985 otherwise) */
+        XMEMSET(keyBuf, 0, sizeof(keyBuf));
+        status = sss_key_store_set_key(&host_keystore, &deriveKey,
+            keyBuf, keySize, keySize * 8, NULL, 0);
+        if (status == kStatus_SSS_Success) {
+            deriveKeyCreated = 1;
+        }
+    }
     if (status == kStatus_SSS_Success) {
         status = sss_derive_key_context_init(&ctx_derive_key, cfg_se050_i2c_pi,
                                     &ref_private_key, kAlgorithm_SSS_ECDH,
                                     kMode_SSS_ComputeSharedSecret);
         if (status == kStatus_SSS_Success) {
-            /* Try to delete existing key first, ignore return since will
-             * fail if no key exists yet */
-            sss_key_store_erase_key(&host_keystore, &deriveKey);
             status = sss_derive_key_dh(&ctx_derive_key, &ref_public_key,
                 &deriveKey);
         }
         if (status == kStatus_SSS_Success) {
             size_t outlenSz = (size_t)*outlen;
             size_t outlenSzBits = outlenSz * 8;
-            deriveKeyCreated = 1;
+            /* sss_key_store_get_key has no HMAC read case, so read the
+             * object back as AES type (both are a plain ReadObject) */
+            deriveKey.cipherType = kSSS_CipherType_AES;
             /* derived key export */
             status = sss_key_store_get_key(&host_keystore, &deriveKey,
                 out, &outlenSz, &outlenSzBits);
@@ -3441,14 +3458,31 @@ int se050_curve25519_shared_secret(curve25519_key* private_key,
     }
     if (status == kStatus_SSS_Success) {
         word32 keyIdAes = se050_allocate_key(SE050_AES_KEY);
-        deriveKeyCreated = 1;
         status = sss_key_object_allocate_handle(&deriveKey,
             keyIdAes,
             kSSS_KeyPart_Default,
-            kSSS_CipherType_Binary,
+            kSSS_CipherType_HMAC,
             keySize,
             kKeyObject_Mode_Transient);
     }
+    if (status == kStatus_SSS_Success) {
+        byte keyBuf[CURVE25519_KEYSIZE];
+
+        /* Try to delete existing key first, ignore return since will
+         * fail if no key exists yet */
+        sss_key_store_erase_key(&host_keystore, &deriveKey);
+
+        /* SE05x applet 7.2 and later stores the ECDH result into an
+         * existing HMACKey object whose size must equal the shared
+         * secret exactly, so the object must be created before the
+         * derive (returns SW 0x6985 otherwise) */
+        XMEMSET(keyBuf, 0, sizeof(keyBuf));
+        status = sss_key_store_set_key(&host_keystore, &deriveKey,
+            keyBuf, keySize, keySize * 8, NULL, 0);
+        if (status == kStatus_SSS_Success) {
+            deriveKeyCreated = 1;
+        }
+    }
     if (status == kStatus_SSS_Success) {
         status = sss_derive_key_context_init(&ctx_derive_key, cfg_se050_i2c_pi,
                                     &ref_private_key, kAlgorithm_SSS_ECDH,
@@ -3460,6 +3494,9 @@ int se050_curve25519_shared_secret(curve25519_key* private_key,
         if (status == kStatus_SSS_Success) {
             size_t outlenSz = sizeof(out->point);
             size_t outlenSzBits = outlenSz * 8;
+            /* sss_key_store_get_key has no HMAC read case, so read the
+             * object back as AES type (both are a plain ReadObject) */
+            deriveKey.cipherType = kSSS_CipherType_AES;
             /* derived key export */
             status = sss_key_store_get_key(&host_keystore, &deriveKey,
                 out->point, &outlenSz, &outlenSzBits);