diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a770fbd35..95a92c46f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 - Tool string length validation counts Unicode characters correctly, including characters outside the basic multilingual plane.
 
 - Director timeline seeks cross the dateline along the short longitude arc.
+- Recent Imagery refuses missing bounding-box edges instead of interpreting them as zero coordinates.
 
 - Treat explicitly current, complete empty vessel coverage as a successful update,
   clearing obsolete contacts while retaining stale or incomplete snapshots.
diff --git a/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md b/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md
index 1f794a5b5..1ad836aba 100644
--- a/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md
+++ b/docs/CURRENT-STATE.md
@@ -5326,3 +5326,8 @@ datacenters, dams and the Nepal locator retain that shared credit while displaye
 
 Military fragments stitch by source identity. Different mapped parcels merge only
 when their footprints touch or contain one another, never across a seam tolerance gap.
+
+
+### fix(recent-imagery): reject absent box edges instead of inventing zero degrees
+
+Reject absent, blank and boolean edges before numeric conversion while retaining valid finite numbers and numeric strings. Invalid boxes remain explicit invalid results instead of false geometry.
diff --git a/src/layers/recentImagery/imagery-box-missing-edge.test.mjs b/src/layers/recentImagery/imagery-box-missing-edge.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3e5a8e8a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/layers/recentImagery/imagery-box-missing-edge.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+import test from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { validateBox, boxCentre } from './model.js';
+test('missing imagery edges do not turn into invented zero coordinates', () => {
+  for (const value of [null, undefined, '', ' ', false, true]) {
+    const box = { west: value, south: 0, east: 1, north: 1 };
+    assert.equal(validateBox(box).ok, false);
+    assert.equal(validateBox(box).reason, 'invalid');
+    assert.equal(boxCentre(box), null);
+  }
+  assert.equal(validateBox({ west: 0, south: 0, east: 1, north: 1 }).ok, true);
+  assert.equal(
+    validateBox({ west: '0', south: '0', east: '1', north: '1' }).ok,
+    true,
+  );
+});
diff --git a/src/layers/recentImagery/model.js b/src/layers/recentImagery/model.js
index 23f503e9e..63c5ec16c 100644
--- a/src/layers/recentImagery/model.js
+++ b/src/layers/recentImagery/model.js
@@ -77,12 +77,17 @@ const pad2 = (value) => String(value).padStart(2, '0');
  */
 function normalizeBox(box) {
   if (!box || typeof box !== 'object') return null;
-  const [west, south, east, north] = [
-    box.west,
-    box.south,
-    box.east,
-    box.north,
-  ].map(Number);
+  const edges = [box.west, box.south, box.east, box.north];
+  if (
+    edges.some(
+      (value) =>
+        value == null ||
+        typeof value === 'boolean' ||
+        (typeof value === 'string' && !value.trim()),
+    )
+  )
+    return null;
+  const [west, south, east, north] = edges.map(Number);
   if (![west, south, east, north].every(Number.isFinite)) return null;
   return {
     west,