diff --git a/scripts/linting/lint-summary.sh b/scripts/linting/lint-summary.sh
index 2464b7b..d12895b 100755
--- a/scripts/linting/lint-summary.sh
+++ b/scripts/linting/lint-summary.sh
@@ -136,9 +136,8 @@ echo "$STACKS_JSON" | jq -r '.[]' | while read -r stack; do
     echo ""
     # Show filtered errors (remove environment variable warnings)
     DOCKER_ERRORS=$(docker compose --env-file "$TEMP_ENV" -f "./$stack/compose.yaml" config 2>&1 | \
-      grep -v "WARNING.*interpolat" | \
-      grep -v "WARNING.*environment variable" | \
-      grep -v "WARNING.*not set" || echo "Configuration errors detected")
+      grep -viE 'warning.*(interpolat|environment variable|not set)' \
+      || echo "Configuration errors detected")
 
     if [[ -n "$DOCKER_ERRORS" && "$DOCKER_ERRORS" != "Configuration errors detected" ]]; then
       # shellcheck disable=SC2001  # sed is appropriate for multi-line prefix addition
diff --git a/scripts/linting/validate-image-platforms.sh b/scripts/linting/validate-image-platforms.sh
index d4b9477..1ae1465 100755
--- a/scripts/linting/validate-image-platforms.sh
+++ b/scripts/linting/validate-image-platforms.sh
@@ -83,17 +83,45 @@ echo "   Target platforms: ${REQ_PLATFORMS[*]}"
 print_separator
 
 TEMP_ENV=$(mktemp)
-trap 'rm -f "$TEMP_ENV"' EXIT
+IMAGES_OUT=$(mktemp)
+IMAGES_ERR=$(mktemp)
+trap 'rm -f "$TEMP_ENV" "$IMAGES_OUT" "$IMAGES_ERR"' EXIT
 create_temp_env "$COMPOSE_FILE" "$TEMP_ENV"
 
-# `docker compose config --images` emits one fully-resolved image ref per line.
+# `docker compose config --images` emits one fully-resolved image ref per line
+# on stdout; warnings go to stderr. Capture the two separately and check the
+# exit status.
+#
+# This previously piped straight into the read loop with `2>/dev/null`, which
+# discarded the diagnostics AND the exit status: any failure to resolve the
+# file yielded an empty list, and the zero-images branch below then reported
+# PASS. A check that verified nothing must never report success - that is the
+# one way a Compose output change could break this silently rather than loudly.
+if ! docker compose --env-file "$TEMP_ENV" -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" config --images \
+     >"$IMAGES_OUT" 2>"$IMAGES_ERR"; then
+  log_error "✗ 'docker compose config --images' failed for $COMPOSE_FILE"
+  echo "   Compose could not resolve the file, so no platform check was possible:"
+  sed 's/^/     /' "$IMAGES_ERR"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 IMAGES=()
 while IFS= read -r line; do
   [[ -n "$line" ]] && IMAGES+=("$line")
-done < <(docker compose --env-file "$TEMP_ENV" -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" config --images 2>/dev/null | sort -u)
+done < <(sort -u "$IMAGES_OUT")
 
 if [[ ${#IMAGES[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
-  echo "ℹ️  No images resolved from $COMPOSE_FILE — nothing to check."
+  # Zero images is legitimate only if the file declares no services at all, or
+  # only `build:` ones. If it declares services yet resolved no image refs, the
+  # output is not the shape this script expects - fail loudly instead of
+  # claiming a pass over an empty set.
+  if docker compose --env-file "$TEMP_ENV" -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" config --services 2>/dev/null | grep -q .; then
+    log_error "✗ $COMPOSE_FILE declares services but resolved 0 image refs."
+    log_error "  'config --images' returned nothing parseable - check whether the"
+    log_error "  Compose output format changed. Refusing to pass an unverified stack."
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  echo "ℹ️  No images resolved from $COMPOSE_FILE — no services declared, nothing to check."
   exit 0
 fi
 
diff --git a/scripts/linting/validate-stack.sh b/scripts/linting/validate-stack.sh
index 4c4afbf..e4ada40 100755
--- a/scripts/linting/validate-stack.sh
+++ b/scripts/linting/validate-stack.sh
@@ -71,12 +71,21 @@ create_temp_env "./$STACK/compose.yaml" "$TEMP_ENV"
 (set -o pipefail; docker compose --env-file "$TEMP_ENV" -f "./$STACK/compose.yaml" config 2>&1 | tee "$DOCKER_OUTPUT") &
 DOCKER_PID=$!
 
-# Wait for both processes and capture exit codes
-wait "$YAML_PID"
-YAML_EXIT=$?
-
-wait "$DOCKER_PID"
-DOCKER_EXIT=$?
+# Wait for both processes and capture exit codes.
+#
+# `|| VAR=$?` is required, not stylistic: this script runs under `set -e`
+# (line 14), so a bare `wait` on a failing child aborts the script right there
+# - before the assignment, and before every formatted report below. That made
+# the entire summary block unreachable for exactly the case it exists to
+# serve: a stack that fails validation printed its raw tee'd output and then
+# died silently, with no "Issues found", no fix hint and no overall status.
+# The job still failed (non-zero exit), so CI verdicts were always correct -
+# only the diagnostics were lost, which is why this went unnoticed.
+YAML_EXIT=0
+wait "$YAML_PID" || YAML_EXIT=$?
+
+DOCKER_EXIT=0
+wait "$DOCKER_PID" || DOCKER_EXIT=$?
 
 # Filter Docker Compose output to remove environment variable warnings but keep real errors
 if [ "$DOCKER_EXIT" -eq 0 ]; then
@@ -84,9 +93,13 @@ if [ "$DOCKER_EXIT" -eq 0 ]; then
   cp "$DOCKER_OUTPUT" "$DOCKER_FILTERED"
 else
   # If Docker Compose failed, filter out common environment variable warnings but keep errors
-  grep -v "WARNING.*interpolat" "$DOCKER_OUTPUT" | \
-  grep -v "WARNING.*environment variable" | \
-  grep -v "WARNING.*not set" > "$DOCKER_FILTERED" || cp "$DOCKER_OUTPUT" "$DOCKER_FILTERED"
+  # Compose 2.x prefixes these `WARNING: ...`; Compose 5.x emits
+  # `time="..." level=warning msg="..."` instead. Match case-insensitively on
+  # the bare token `warning`, which is a substring of both spellings, so the
+  # filter keeps working across the engine versions in use. The `|| cp` retains
+  # the original behaviour: if filtering removed every line, show the raw output.
+  grep -viE 'warning.*(interpolat|environment variable|not set)' \
+    "$DOCKER_OUTPUT" > "$DOCKER_FILTERED" || cp "$DOCKER_OUTPUT" "$DOCKER_FILTERED"
 fi
 
 # Cleanup temporary env file