diff --git a/src/libcamera/pipeline/ipu3/ipu3.cpp b/src/libcamera/pipeline/ipu3/ipu3.cpp
index b1f804d60664..f2d76551d369 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/pipeline/ipu3/ipu3.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/pipeline/ipu3/ipu3.cpp
@@ -363,7 +363,8 @@ CameraConfiguration *PipelineHandlerIPU3::generateConfiguration(Camera *camera,
 		config->addConfiguration(cfg);
 	}
 
-	config->validate();
+	if (config->validate() == CameraConfiguration::Invalid)
+		return {};
 
 	return config;
 }