diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index cc3ff9d1277..7580978450a 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -589,16 +589,20 @@ muzzle-dep-report:
     TESTCONTAINERS_HUB_IMAGE_NAME_PREFIX: "registry.ddbuild.io/images/mirror/"
     JETTY_AVAILABLE_PROCESSORS: 4 # Jetty incorrectly calculates processor count in containers
   rules:
-    - if: $testJvm =~ $DEFAULT_TEST_JVMS
-      when: on_success
-    - if: $NON_DEFAULT_JVMS == "true"
-      when: on_success
-    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "master"
+    # Protected branches (master/mq/gh-readonly): all JVMs run unconditionally
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "master"'
       when: on_success
     - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^mq-working-branch-/'
       when: on_success
     - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^gh-readonly-queue/'
       when: on_success
+    # Enable for default test JVMs or for NON_DEFAULT_JVMS
+    - if: '$NON_DEFAULT_JVMS == "true"'
+      when: on_success
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_MESSAGE =~ /\[ci: NON_DEFAULT_JVMS\]/'
+      when: on_success
+    - if: '$testJvm =~ $DEFAULT_TEST_JVMS'
+      when: on_success
   script:
     - *gitlab_base_ref_params
     - >