install -d follows a planted ancestor symlink, and a writable parent can rename the managed leaf aside. chromium.theme is user-installed, so only a 0-255 RGB triple becomes a colour.
The hardened gate only looked at the distribution directory. A regular
policies.json planted under the old 777 mode would then be left in place
if the directory later looked 755/root.
Chromium managed policy is mandatory for every profile. World-writable
dirs let any local uid plant policy, including force-installed
extensions. Write goes through the omarchy-browser-policy group at 2775
so theme colour still works without other-write.