diff --git a/cmake/PjPluginManifest.cmake b/cmake/PjPluginManifest.cmake
index d76e783..a92bf94 100644
--- a/cmake/PjPluginManifest.cmake
+++ b/cmake/PjPluginManifest.cmake
@@ -32,6 +32,37 @@ function(pj_emit_plugin_manifest TARGET)
     message(FATAL_ERROR "pj_emit_plugin_manifest(${TARGET}): FAMILY is required")
   endif()
 
+  # Symbol isolation — functional replacement for RTLD_DEEPBIND.
+  #
+  # Two complementary mechanisms are needed:
+  #
+  # 1. -fvisibility=hidden (compile-time): hides symbols DEFINED in the plugin's
+  #    own source files. Prevents them from being interposable by the host.
+  #
+  # 2. -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions (link-time): makes function calls WITHIN the .so
+  #    resolve to the definitions inside it, bypassing the PLT entirely.
+  #    This is critical for statically bundled deps (e.g. libssl.a from Conan)
+  #    that were compiled WITHOUT -fvisibility=hidden: their symbols enter the .so
+  #    with DEFAULT visibility, and without -Bsymbolic-functions their calls would
+  #    still go through PLT → resolved to the host's namespace first → crash.
+  #
+  # Together: all function calls inside the plugin use the embedded static copies.
+  # The two boot-level exports (pj_plugin_abi_version + PJ_get_<family>_vtable)
+  # keep visibility("default") via the PJ_*_PLUGIN macros and are unaffected.
+  # malloc / pthread / system calls are NOT defined in the plugin, so they still
+  # resolve to the host — ASAN malloc interposition works correctly.
+  #
+  # -Bsymbolic-functions is Linux/ELF-specific. On macOS the linker uses
+  # two-level namespace by default (equivalent behavior), so the flag is omitted.
+  set_target_properties(${TARGET} PROPERTIES
+    CXX_VISIBILITY_PRESET   hidden
+    C_VISIBILITY_PRESET     hidden
+    VISIBILITY_INLINES_HIDDEN ON
+  )
+  target_link_options(${TARGET} PRIVATE
+    $<$<PLATFORM_ID:Linux>:-Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions>
+  )
+
   set(_valid_families data_source message_parser toolbox dialog)
   list(FIND _valid_families "${ARG_FAMILY}" _family_idx)
   if(_family_idx LESS 0)
diff --git a/pj_media/demos/CMakeLists.txt b/pj_media/demos/CMakeLists.txt
index 2464ea4..2f8d225 100644
--- a/pj_media/demos/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/pj_media/demos/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -60,14 +60,4 @@ if(TARGET pj_media_qt)
     target_compile_options(mp4_video_viewer PRIVATE ${PJ_WARNING_FLAGS})
     target_link_libraries(mp4_video_viewer PRIVATE pj_media_qt pj_media_core)
   endif()
-elseif(PJ_BUILD_DIALOG_ENGINE_QT)
-  find_package(Qt6 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Widgets)
-  set(CMAKE_AUTOMOC ON)
-  add_executable(mcap_image_viewer mcap_image_viewer.cpp image_widget.hpp)
-  target_compile_features(mcap_image_viewer PRIVATE cxx_std_20)
-  target_compile_options(mcap_image_viewer PRIVATE ${PJ_WARNING_FLAGS})
-  target_link_libraries(mcap_image_viewer PRIVATE
-    pj_media_core pj_datastore mcap::mcap libjpeg-turbo::libjpeg-turbo
-    Qt6::Widgets
-  )
 endif()
diff --git a/pj_plugins/src/detail/library_loader.hpp b/pj_plugins/src/detail/library_loader.hpp
index d5bf9f4..53bc5a8 100644
--- a/pj_plugins/src/detail/library_loader.hpp
+++ b/pj_plugins/src/detail/library_loader.hpp
@@ -38,9 +38,15 @@ inline Expected<void*> loadLibraryHandle(std::string_view path) {
   // breaks LD_PRELOAD'd malloc interposition, which makes every plugin
   // dlopen fail under AddressSanitizer (and similarly for jemalloc /
   // tcmalloc interposition in production). Plugin-local symbol isolation
-  // is instead achieved by building plugins with -fvisibility=hidden and
-  // explicitly marking only the boot-level exports
-  // (pj_plugin_abi_version + PJ_get_<family>_vtable) as default visible.
+  // uses two build-time mechanisms (cmake/PjPluginManifest.cmake):
+  // 1. -fvisibility=hidden: hides symbols defined in plugin source files.
+  // 2. -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions (Linux): function calls within the .so
+  //    resolve to the embedded static copies, bypassing PLT. This covers
+  //    deps compiled without -fvisibility=hidden (e.g. libssl.a from Conan)
+  //    whose symbols enter the .so with default visibility and whose calls
+  //    would otherwise resolve to the host's namespace first via PLT.
+  // malloc/pthread/system calls are NOT defined in the plugin so they still
+  // reach the host — ASAN malloc interposition works correctly.
   int flags = RTLD_NOW | RTLD_LOCAL;
   void* handle = dlopen(std::string(path).c_str(), flags);
   if (handle == nullptr) {