diff --git a/pkg/restore/restore_test.go b/pkg/restore/restore_test.go
index 935586e63..46667b1f9 100644
--- a/pkg/restore/restore_test.go
+++ b/pkg/restore/restore_test.go
@@ -2299,6 +2299,62 @@ func TestRestoreActionAdditionalItems(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestRestoreActionAdditionalItemsInvalidJSON verifies that an additional item whose file
+// exists in the backup but does not contain valid JSON is reported as an error and skipped,
+// rather than being passed to restoreItem as a nil object.
+//
+// archive.Unmarshal returns (nil, err) for malformed JSON, and restoreItem dereferences its
+// obj argument immediately, so failing to skip the item panics the restore reconciler.
+func TestRestoreActionAdditionalItemsInvalidJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	h := newHarness(t)
+
+	for _, r := range []*test.APIResource{test.Pods(), test.PVs()} {
+		h.AddItems(t, r)
+	}
+
+	// pv-1.json exists so the Stat check passes, but its contents are not valid JSON.
+	tarball := test.NewTarWriter(t).
+		AddItems("pods", builder.ForPod("ns-1", "pod-1").Result()).
+		Add("resources/persistentvolumes/cluster/pv-1.json", []byte("not-json")).
+		Done()
+
+	actions := []riav2.RestoreItemAction{
+		&pluggableAction{
+			executeFunc: func(input *velero.RestoreItemActionExecuteInput) (*velero.RestoreItemActionExecuteOutput, error) {
+				return &velero.RestoreItemActionExecuteOutput{
+					UpdatedItem: input.Item,
+					AdditionalItems: []velero.ResourceIdentifier{
+						{GroupResource: kuberesource.PersistentVolumes, Name: "pv-1"},
+					},
+				}, nil
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	data := &Request{
+		Log:          h.log,
+		Restore:      defaultRestore().Result(),
+		Backup:       defaultBackup().Result(),
+		BackupReader: tarball,
+	}
+
+	// A nil additional item passed on to restoreItem panics here rather than failing.
+	warnings, errs := h.restorer.Restore(data, actions, nil)
+
+	assertWantErrsOrWarnings(t, Result{}, warnings)
+	assertWantErrsOrWarnings(t, Result{
+		Namespaces: map[string][]string{
+			"ns-1": {"error restoring additional item persistentvolumes/pv-1"},
+		},
+	}, errs)
+
+	// The item that triggered the action is still restored, so the loop continued.
+	assertAPIContents(t, h, map[*test.APIResource][]string{
+		test.Pods(): {"ns-1/pod-1"},
+		test.PVs():  {},
+	})
+}
+
 // TestRestoreMustIncludeAdditionalItems covers restore must-include edge cases beyond the
 // basic filter-bypass cases in TestRestoreActionAdditionalItems.
 func TestRestoreMustIncludeAdditionalItems(t *testing.T) {