diff --git a/internal/driver/provisioner.go b/internal/driver/provisioner.go
index d4d27e5..f3a9691 100644
--- a/internal/driver/provisioner.go
+++ b/internal/driver/provisioner.go
@@ -323,10 +323,19 @@ func (p *K8sProvisioner) buildSandboxSpec(sb *pb.DriverSandbox) map[string]inter
 		podLabels[labelKagentiTeam] = p.cfg.Tenant
 	}
 
+	podAnnotations := map[string]interface{}{
+		// Bypass Istio ambient inbound capture for sandbox pods. Without this,
+		// ztunnel (HBONE mode on OpenShift) re-originates veth-pair connections
+		// from the pod's main IP, breaking the proxy's /proc/net/tcp identity
+		// resolution which relies on seeing the sandbox's 10.200.0.2 source.
+		"ambient.istio.io/bypass-inbound-capture": "true",
+	}
+
 	return map[string]interface{}{
 		"podTemplate": map[string]interface{}{
 			"metadata": map[string]interface{}{
-				"labels": podLabels,
+				"labels":      podLabels,
+				"annotations": podAnnotations,
 			},
 			"spec": podSpec,
 		},
diff --git a/internal/driver/provisioner_test.go b/internal/driver/provisioner_test.go
index 4521a7a..aa22f94 100644
--- a/internal/driver/provisioner_test.go
+++ b/internal/driver/provisioner_test.go
@@ -374,6 +374,30 @@ func TestBuildSandboxSpec_TenantLabels(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestBuildSandboxSpec_IstioBypassAnnotation(t *testing.T) {
+	p := newProvisionerForTest(t)
+
+	sb := &pb.DriverSandbox{
+		Id: "sb-istio",
+		Spec: &pb.DriverSandboxSpec{
+			Template: &pb.DriverSandboxTemplate{
+				Image: "img:latest",
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	spec := p.buildSandboxSpec(sb)
+	podTemplate := spec["podTemplate"].(map[string]interface{})
+	meta := podTemplate["metadata"].(map[string]interface{})
+	annotations, ok := meta["annotations"].(map[string]interface{})
+	if !ok {
+		t.Fatal("expected annotations in podTemplate metadata")
+	}
+	if annotations["ambient.istio.io/bypass-inbound-capture"] != "true" {
+		t.Errorf("expected ambient bypass annotation, got %v", annotations["ambient.istio.io/bypass-inbound-capture"])
+	}
+}
+
 func TestBuildSandboxSpec_SATokenEnvVar(t *testing.T) {
 	p := newProvisionerForTest(t)