diff --git a/pkg/feature/manifest.go b/pkg/feature/manifest.go
index f5af0a4eb6a..1793c56bbdc 100644
--- a/pkg/feature/manifest.go
+++ b/pkg/feature/manifest.go
@@ -88,7 +88,10 @@ func (t *templateManifest) Process(data any) ([]*unstructured.Unstructured, erro
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create file: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	tmpl, err := template.New(t.name).Funcs(template.FuncMap{"ReplaceChar": ReplaceChar}).Parse(string(content))
+	tmpl, err := template.New(t.name).
+		Option("missingkey=error").
+		Funcs(template.FuncMap{"ReplaceChar": ReplaceChar}).
+		Parse(string(content))
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse template: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/feature/manifest_test.go b/pkg/feature/manifest_test.go
index 01dafb8c20f..f66d75eb7d0 100644
--- a/pkg/feature/manifest_test.go
+++ b/pkg/feature/manifest_test.go
@@ -75,8 +75,7 @@ data:
 	})
 
 	Describe("Templated Manifest Processing", func() {
-		BeforeEach(func() {
-			resourceYaml := `
+		resourceYaml := `
 apiVersion: v1
 kind: ConfigMap
 metadata:
@@ -85,11 +84,29 @@ metadata:
 data:
   key: Data
 `
+
+		BeforeEach(func() {
 			path = "path/to/template.yaml"
 			err := afero.WriteFile(inMemFS.Afs, path, []byte(resourceYaml), 0644)
 			Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
 		})
 
+		It("should fail when template refers to non existing key", func() {
+			// given
+			pathToBrokenTpl := filepath.Join("broken", path)
+			Expect(afero.WriteFile(inMemFS.Afs, pathToBrokenTpl, []byte(resourceYaml+"\n {{ .NotExistingKey }}"), 0644)).To(Succeed())
+			data := map[string]string{
+				"TargetNamespace": "template-ns",
+			}
+			manifest := feature.CreateTemplateManifestFrom(inMemFS, pathToBrokenTpl)
+
+			// when
+			_, err := manifest.Process(data)
+
+			// then
+			Expect(err).Should(MatchError(ContainSubstring("at <.NotExistingKey>: map has no entry for key")))
+		})
+
 		It("should substitute target namespace in the templated manifest", func() {
 			// given
 			data := feature.Spec{