operator: don't skip child objects collection if parent contains unknown fields

api/operator/v1beta1/vmagent_types.go

@@ -644,7 +644,7 @@ func (cr *VMAgent) ScrapeSelectors(scrape client.Object) (*metav1.LabelSelector,
 
 // IsUnmanaged checks if object should managed any config objects
 func (cr *VMAgent) IsUnmanaged(scrape client.Object) bool {
-	if !cr.DeletionTimestamp.IsZero() || cr.Status.ParsingSpecError != "" {
+	if !cr.DeletionTimestamp.IsZero() || (cr.Status.ParsingSpecError != "" && !HasUnknownFields(cr.Status.ParsingSpecError)) {
 		return true
 	}
 	if scrape == nil {

api/operator/v1beta1/vmagent_types_test.go

@@ -163,3 +163,22 @@ func TestVMAgent_PrefixedName(t *testing.T) {
 	f("myapp", false, "vmagent-myapp")
 	f("myapp", true, "myapp")
 }
+
+// TestVMAgent_IsUnmanaged is the VMAgent counterpart of TestVMAlert_IsUnmanaged.
+func TestVMAgent_IsUnmanaged(t *testing.T) {
+	f := func(cr VMAgent, want bool) {
+		t.Helper()
+		assert.Equal(t, want, cr.IsUnmanaged(nil))
+	}
+
+	f(VMAgent{Spec: VMAgentSpec{CommonScrapeParams: CommonScrapeParams{SelectAllByDefault: true}}}, false)
+	f(VMAgent{}, true)
+	f(VMAgent{
+		Status: VMAgentStatus{ParsingSpecError: `json: unknown field "foo"`},
+		Spec:   VMAgentSpec{CommonScrapeParams: CommonScrapeParams{SelectAllByDefault: true}},
+	}, false)
+	f(VMAgent{
+		Status: VMAgentStatus{ParsingSpecError: "some other unrelated parse failure"},
+		Spec:   VMAgentSpec{CommonScrapeParams: CommonScrapeParams{SelectAllByDefault: true}},
+	}, true)
+}

api/operator/v1beta1/vmalert_types.go

@@ -527,7 +527,7 @@ func (cr *VMAlert) AsURL(isExtra bool) string {
 
 // IsUnmanaged checks if object should managed any  config objects
 func (cr *VMAlert) IsUnmanaged() bool {
-	if !cr.DeletionTimestamp.IsZero() || cr.Status.ParsingSpecError != "" {
+	if !cr.DeletionTimestamp.IsZero() || (cr.Status.ParsingSpecError != "" && !HasUnknownFields(cr.Status.ParsingSpecError)) {
 		return true
 	}
 	return !cr.Spec.SelectAllByDefault && cr.Spec.RuleSelector == nil && cr.Spec.RuleNamespaceSelector == nil

api/operator/v1beta1/vmalert_types_test.go

@@ -121,3 +121,25 @@ func TestVMAlert_PrefixedName(t *testing.T) {
 	f("myapp", false, "vmalert-myapp")
 	f("myapp", true, "myapp")
 }
+
+// TestVMAlert_IsUnmanaged: an unknown-fields-only ParsingSpecError (the operator's
+// strict-unmarshal warning that every other ParsingSpecError check in the codebase treats
+// as non-fatal) must not make an otherwise fully-configured VMAlert unmanaged, or rule
+// selection silently never runs.
+func TestVMAlert_IsUnmanaged(t *testing.T) {
+	f := func(cr VMAlert, want bool) {
+		t.Helper()
+		assert.Equal(t, want, cr.IsUnmanaged())
+	}
+
+	f(VMAlert{Spec: VMAlertSpec{SelectAllByDefault: true}}, false)
+	f(VMAlert{}, true)
+	f(VMAlert{
+		Status: VMAlertStatus{ParsingSpecError: `json: unknown field "foo"`},
+		Spec:   VMAlertSpec{SelectAllByDefault: true},
+	}, false)
+	f(VMAlert{
+		Status: VMAlertStatus{ParsingSpecError: "some other unrelated parse failure"},
+		Spec:   VMAlertSpec{SelectAllByDefault: true},
+	}, true)
+}

api/operator/v1beta1/vmalertmanager_types.go

@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ func (*VMAlertmanager) ProbeNeedLiveness() bool {
 
 // IsUnmanaged checks if alertmanager should managed any alertmanager config objects
 func (cr *VMAlertmanager) IsUnmanaged() bool {
-	if !cr.DeletionTimestamp.IsZero() || cr.Status.ParsingSpecError != "" {
+	if !cr.DeletionTimestamp.IsZero() || (cr.Status.ParsingSpecError != "" && !HasUnknownFields(cr.Status.ParsingSpecError)) {
 		return true
 	}
 	return !cr.Spec.SelectAllByDefault && cr.Spec.ConfigSelector == nil && cr.Spec.ConfigNamespaceSelector == nil

api/operator/v1beta1/vmalertmanager_types_test.go

@@ -74,3 +74,22 @@ func TestVMAlertmanager_PrefixedName(t *testing.T) {
 	f("myapp", false, "vmalertmanager-myapp")
 	f("myapp", true, "myapp")
 }
+
+// TestVMAlertmanager_IsUnmanaged is the VMAlertmanager counterpart of TestVMAlert_IsUnmanaged.
+func TestVMAlertmanager_IsUnmanaged(t *testing.T) {
+	f := func(cr VMAlertmanager, want bool) {
+		t.Helper()
+		assert.Equal(t, want, cr.IsUnmanaged())
+	}
+
+	f(VMAlertmanager{Spec: VMAlertmanagerSpec{SelectAllByDefault: true}}, false)
+	f(VMAlertmanager{}, true)
+	f(VMAlertmanager{
+		Status: VMAlertmanagerStatus{ParsingSpecError: `json: unknown field "foo"`},
+		Spec:   VMAlertmanagerSpec{SelectAllByDefault: true},
+	}, false)
+	f(VMAlertmanager{
+		Status: VMAlertmanagerStatus{ParsingSpecError: "some other unrelated parse failure"},
+		Spec:   VMAlertmanagerSpec{SelectAllByDefault: true},
+	}, true)
+}

api/operator/v1beta1/vmauth_types.go

@@ -772,7 +772,7 @@ func (cr *VMAuth) IsOwnsServiceAccount() bool {
 
 // IsUnmanaged checks if object should managed any  config objects
 func (cr *VMAuth) IsUnmanaged() bool {
-	if !cr.DeletionTimestamp.IsZero() || cr.Status.ParsingSpecError != "" {
+	if !cr.DeletionTimestamp.IsZero() || (cr.Status.ParsingSpecError != "" && !HasUnknownFields(cr.Status.ParsingSpecError)) {
 		return true
 	}
 	return (!cr.Spec.SelectAllByDefault && cr.Spec.UserSelector == nil && cr.Spec.UserNamespaceSelector == nil) ||

api/operator/v1beta1/vmauth_types_test.go

@@ -141,3 +141,22 @@ func TestVMAuth_PrefixedName(t *testing.T) {
 	f("myapp", false, "vmauth-myapp")
 	f("myapp", true, "myapp")
 }
+
+// TestVMAuth_IsUnmanaged is the VMAuth counterpart of TestVMAlert_IsUnmanaged.
+func TestVMAuth_IsUnmanaged(t *testing.T) {
+	f := func(cr VMAuth, want bool) {
+		t.Helper()
+		assert.Equal(t, want, cr.IsUnmanaged())
+	}
+
+	f(VMAuth{Spec: VMAuthSpec{SelectAllByDefault: true}}, false)
+	f(VMAuth{}, true)
+	f(VMAuth{
+		Status: VMAuthStatus{ParsingSpecError: `json: unknown field "foo"`},
+		Spec:   VMAuthSpec{SelectAllByDefault: true},
+	}, false)
+	f(VMAuth{
+		Status: VMAuthStatus{ParsingSpecError: "some other unrelated parse failure"},
+		Spec:   VMAuthSpec{SelectAllByDefault: true},
+	}, true)
+}

api/operator/v1beta1/vmsingle_types.go

@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ func (cr *VMSingle) ScrapeSelectors(scrape client.Object) (*metav1.LabelSelector
 
 // IsUnmanaged checks if object should managed any config objects
 func (cr *VMSingle) IsUnmanaged(scrape client.Object) bool {
-	if !cr.DeletionTimestamp.IsZero() || cr.Status.ParsingSpecError != "" {
+	if !cr.DeletionTimestamp.IsZero() || (cr.Status.ParsingSpecError != "" && !HasUnknownFields(cr.Status.ParsingSpecError)) {
 		return true
 	}
 	if scrape == nil {

api/operator/v1beta1/vmsingle_types_test.go

@@ -228,3 +228,22 @@ func TestVMSingle_PrefixedName(t *testing.T) {
 	// useLegacyNaming — CR name used as-is
 	f("myapp", true, "myapp")
 }
+
+// TestVMSingle_IsUnmanaged is the VMSingle counterpart of TestVMAlert_IsUnmanaged.
+func TestVMSingle_IsUnmanaged(t *testing.T) {
+	f := func(cr VMSingle, want bool) {
+		t.Helper()
+		assert.Equal(t, want, cr.IsUnmanaged(nil))
+	}
+
+	f(VMSingle{Spec: VMSingleSpec{CommonScrapeParams: CommonScrapeParams{SelectAllByDefault: true}}}, false)
+	f(VMSingle{}, true)
+	f(VMSingle{
+		Status: VMSingleStatus{ParsingSpecError: `json: unknown field "foo"`},
+		Spec:   VMSingleSpec{CommonScrapeParams: CommonScrapeParams{SelectAllByDefault: true}},
+	}, false)
+	f(VMSingle{
+		Status: VMSingleStatus{ParsingSpecError: "some other unrelated parse failure"},
+		Spec:   VMSingleSpec{CommonScrapeParams: CommonScrapeParams{SelectAllByDefault: true}},
+	}, true)
+}

docs/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ aliases:
 * BUGFIX: [helm-converter](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/operator/helm-converter/): fix `extraVolumes`/`extraVolumeMounts` being silently dropped during conversion for vmsingle, vmagent, vmalert, vmanomaly, vmcluster, vlcluster, vtcluster, vtsingle, vlogs, and vmauth charts. See [#2424](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/operator/issues/2424).
 * BUGFIX: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/operator/resources/vmagent/), [vmanomaly](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/operator/resources/vmanomaly/): target `spec.vpa` at the `VMAgent`/`VMAnomaly` custom resource itself instead of its underlying `Deployment`/`StatefulSet`. VPA rejects a `targetRef` whose owner chain includes another scalable controller, so a `VerticalPodAutoscaler` targeting the workload directly was silently non-functional whenever the CR exposed a `scale` subresource. See [#2415](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/operator/issues/2415).
 * BUGFIX: [vlagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/operator/resources/vlagent/): remove a vestigial `scale` subresource declaration referencing nonexistent `spec`/`status` fields, which unconditionally broke `spec.vpa` for `VLAgent` the same way as [#2415](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/operator/issues/2415).
+* BUGFIX: [vmalert](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/operator/resources/vmalert/), [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/operator/resources/vmagent/), [vmalertmanager](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/operator/resources/vmalertmanager/), [vmauth](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/operator/resources/vmauth/), [vmsingle](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/operator/resources/vmsingle/): fix child object selection (`VMRule`, scrape objects, `VMAlertmanagerConfig`, `VMUser`) being silently skipped whenever the parent CR's spec contains a field the running operator version doesn't recognize (e.g. after a CRD/operator version mismatch), even though the CR otherwise reconciles successfully with no errors. See [#2444](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/operator/issues/2444).
 
 ## [v0.73.1](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/operator/releases/tag/v0.73.1)
 **Release date:** 08 July 2026