diff --git a/docs/release-control/v6/internal/subsystems/monitoring.md b/docs/release-control/v6/internal/subsystems/monitoring.md
index 74ed3242a..4956c257b 100644
--- a/docs/release-control/v6/internal/subsystems/monitoring.md
+++ b/docs/release-control/v6/internal/subsystems/monitoring.md
@@ -17,6 +17,23 @@
 
 ## Purpose
 
+PBS node-status collection must reject HTTP-success responses whose `data`
+is omitted or null (including a null response envelope). Absent status is
+unavailable telemetry, not measured zero usage: the poller retains independently
+established connectivity, marks node metrics unavailable, and must not resolve
+an active metric incident from that response. This does not add per-field
+validation of populated status objects.
+
+Verification: `TestClient_GetNodeStatus_MissingData` in
+`pkg/pbs/client_http_test.go` covers the absent envelopes.
+`TestPBSPartialMetricsWebhookLifecycle` in
+`internal/monitoring/monitor_pbs_webhook_test.go` exercises repeated null status
+through the real poller, alert manager, notification queue and local webhook.
+It requires online-but-unavailable projection, unchanged incident identity,
+no false recovery history or delivery, then one identity-preserving recovery
+after valid low-memory samples. These are local synthetic checks, not
+installed-artifact or off-host destination qualification.
+
 Direct PBS backup polling classifies typed API and authentication failures by
 the response status exposed by `pbs.HTTPStatus`, including wrapped errors.
 A 5xx gateway or server response remains transient even when its body quotes
diff --git a/internal/monitoring/monitor_pbs_health_authority_test.go b/internal/monitoring/monitor_pbs_health_authority_test.go
index dc603bafd..117be78f4 100644
--- a/internal/monitoring/monitor_pbs_health_authority_test.go
+++ b/internal/monitoring/monitor_pbs_health_authority_test.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ const (
 	pbsHealthTestNodeGatewayFailure
 	pbsHealthTestUnavailable
 	pbsHealthTestLowMemory
+	pbsHealthTestNullNodeStatus
 )
 
 type pbsHealthTestServer struct {
@@ -66,6 +67,10 @@ func newPBSHealthTestServer(t *testing.T) *pbsHealthTestServer {
 				"data": map[string]any{"version": "3.4.2"},
 			})
 		case "/api2/json/nodes/localhost/status":
+			if mode == pbsHealthTestNullNodeStatus {
+				_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"data":null}`))
+				return
+			}
 			if mode == pbsHealthTestNodeDenied {
 				http.Error(w, "permission denied", http.StatusForbidden)
 				return
diff --git a/internal/monitoring/monitor_pbs_webhook_test.go b/internal/monitoring/monitor_pbs_webhook_test.go
index cb15df277..098ae51a8 100644
--- a/internal/monitoring/monitor_pbs_webhook_test.go
+++ b/internal/monitoring/monitor_pbs_webhook_test.go
@@ -98,11 +98,15 @@ func TestPBSPartialMetricsWebhookLifecycle(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	incident := firing.Alerts[0]
 	waitSent(1)
-	for _, mode := range []pbsHealthTestMode{pbsHealthTestNodeDenied, pbsHealthTestNodeGatewayFailure} {
+	for _, mode := range []pbsHealthTestMode{pbsHealthTestNodeDenied, pbsHealthTestNodeGatewayFailure, pbsHealthTestNullNodeStatus} {
 		fixture.setMode(mode)
 		for range 5 {
 			poll()
 		}
+		projection := pbsInstanceByName(t, monitor.state.GetSnapshot(), instance.Name)
+		if projection.Status != "online" || !projection.NodeMetricsUnavailable {
+			t.Fatalf("partial failure must retain connectivity without claiming metrics: %+v", projection)
+		}
 		active := manager.GetActiveAlerts()
 		if len(active) != 1 || active[0].ID != incident.ID || !active[0].StartTime.Equal(incident.StartTime) {
 			t.Fatal("partial failure changed the active incident")
diff --git a/pkg/pbs/client.go b/pkg/pbs/client.go
index b45f705b3..ef9aba61e 100644
--- a/pkg/pbs/client.go
+++ b/pkg/pbs/client.go
@@ -771,14 +771,20 @@ func (c *Client) GetNodeStatus(ctx context.Context) (*NodeStatus, error) {
 	log.Debug().Str("response", string(body)).Msg("PBS node status response")
 
 	var statusResult struct {
-		Data NodeStatus `json:"data"`
+		Data *NodeStatus `json:"data"`
 	}
 
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(body, &statusResult); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to decode status response: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	return &statusResult.Data, nil
+	// A successful HTTP response is not evidence of available metrics.
+	// Missing/null data must not become zero usage and resolve active alerts.
+	if statusResult.Data == nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("node status response contains no data")
+	}
+
+	return statusResult.Data, nil
 }
 
 // GetDatastores returns all datastores with their status.
diff --git a/pkg/pbs/client_http_test.go b/pkg/pbs/client_http_test.go
index c711befff..68eba0500 100644
--- a/pkg/pbs/client_http_test.go
+++ b/pkg/pbs/client_http_test.go
@@ -817,3 +817,18 @@ func TestClient_GetNodeName_ConcurrentTransientFailureIsSingleFlight(t *testing.
 		t.Fatalf("/nodes hit %d times after recovery and cache read, want 2", got)
 	}
 }
+func TestClient_GetNodeStatus_MissingData(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, body := range []string{`{"data":null}`, `{}`, `null`} {
+		t.Run(body, func(t *testing.T) {
+			client, server := newTestClient(t, func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+				w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+				_, _ = w.Write([]byte(body))
+			})
+			defer server.Close()
+			status, err := client.GetNodeStatus(context.Background())
+			if status != nil || err == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("absent metrics = (%+v, %v), want nil status and error", status, err)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}