diff --git a/crates/consensus-db/src/store.rs b/crates/consensus-db/src/store.rs
index cafb67a0..aa84b48c 100644
--- a/crates/consensus-db/src/store.rs
+++ b/crates/consensus-db/src/store.rs
@@ -396,13 +396,16 @@ impl Db {
             table.last()?.map(|(_, v)| v.value())
         };
 
-        let result = bytes.and_then(|bytes| {
-            #[allow(clippy::arithmetic_side_effects)]
-            {
-                read_bytes += bytes.len();
-            }
-            decode_certificate(&bytes).ok()
-        });
+        let result = bytes
+            .map(|bytes| {
+                #[allow(clippy::arithmetic_side_effects)]
+                {
+                    read_bytes += bytes.len();
+                }
+                decode_certificate(&bytes)
+            })
+            .transpose()
+            .map_err(StoreError::from)?;
 
         self.update_read_metrics(read_bytes, size_of::<Height>(), start.elapsed());
 
@@ -434,14 +437,17 @@ impl Db {
         let certificate = {
             let table = tx.open_table(CERTIFICATES_TABLE)?;
             let value = table.get(&height)?;
-            value.and_then(|value| {
-                let bytes = value.value();
-                #[allow(clippy::arithmetic_side_effects)]
-                {
-                    read_bytes += bytes.len();
-                }
-                decode_certificate(&bytes).ok()
-            })
+            value
+                .map(|value| {
+                    let bytes = value.value();
+                    #[allow(clippy::arithmetic_side_effects)]
+                    {
+                        read_bytes += bytes.len();
+                    }
+                    decode_certificate(&bytes)
+                })
+                .transpose()
+                .map_err(StoreError::from)?
         };
 
         self.update_read_metrics(read_bytes, size_of::<Height>(), start.elapsed());
@@ -1134,6 +1140,8 @@ impl Db {
             // Keys are sorted by (height, round, hash) ascending
             let (stale, within_range, too_far) = table
                 .iter()?
+                // Skipping unreadable keys during enumeration is deliberate here
+                // (unlike a point-lookup returning a wrong "absent").
                 .filter_map(|result| result.ok().map(|(k, _)| k.value()))
                 .fold(
                     (vec![], vec![], vec![]),
@@ -1815,6 +1823,28 @@ mod tests {
         ProposalParts::new(parts).unwrap()
     }
 
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_get_certificate_returns_decode_error_on_corruption() {
+        let store = create_store().await;
+        let height = Height::new(1);
+
+        // Write corrupt bytes directly to CERTIFICATES_TABLE
+        let tx = store.db.db.begin_write().unwrap();
+        {
+            let mut table = tx.open_table(CERTIFICATES_TABLE).unwrap();
+            table.insert(height, vec![0xBA, 0xAD, 0xF0, 0x0D]).unwrap();
+        }
+        tx.commit().unwrap();
+
+        let result = store.get_certificate(Some(height)).await;
+
+        assert!(
+            matches!(result, Err(StoreError::Decode(_))),
+            "Expected StoreError::Decode, got {:?}",
+            result
+        );
+    }
+
     fn arbitrary_payload() -> ExecutionPayloadV3 {
         Unstructured::new(&[0xab; 1024])
             .arbitrary::<ExecutionPayloadV3>()