diff --git a/src/libcamera/pipeline/ipu3/ipu3.cpp b/src/libcamera/pipeline/ipu3/ipu3.cpp
index 85d21b4db046..e62a5d5b3517 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/pipeline/ipu3/ipu3.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/pipeline/ipu3/ipu3.cpp
@@ -357,7 +357,8 @@ CameraConfiguration *PipelineHandlerIPU3::generateConfiguration(Camera *camera,
 		config->addConfiguration(cfg);
 	}
 
-	config->validate();
+	if (CameraConfiguration::Invalid == config->validate())
+		return {};
 
 	return config;
 }