diff --git a/cmd/hubble/daemon_linux.go b/cmd/hubble/daemon_linux.go
index 58c281a4a5..2bb3b1ae25 100644
--- a/cmd/hubble/daemon_linux.go
+++ b/cmd/hubble/daemon_linux.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cilium/cilium/pkg/k8s/watchers"
 	monitoragent "github.com/cilium/cilium/pkg/monitor/agent"
 	"github.com/cilium/cilium/pkg/node"
+	"github.com/cilium/hive"
 	"github.com/cilium/hive/cell"
 	"github.com/cilium/workerpool"
 
@@ -72,14 +73,29 @@ var (
 		}),
 
 		// Start the controller manager
-		cell.Invoke(func(l *slog.Logger, lifecycle cell.Lifecycle, ctrlManager ctrl.Manager) {
+		cell.Invoke(func(l *slog.Logger, lifecycle cell.Lifecycle, shutdowner hive.Shutdowner, ctrlManager ctrl.Manager) {
 			var wp *workerpool.WorkerPool
 			lifecycle.Append(
 				cell.Hook{
 					OnStart: func(cell.HookContext) error {
 						wp = workerpool.New(1)
 						l.Info("starting controller-runtime manager")
-						if err := wp.Submit("controller-runtime manager", ctrlManager.Start); err != nil {
+						if err := wp.Submit("controller-runtime manager", func(ctx context.Context) error {
+							// Shut down immediately if the manager exits unexpectedly to avoid running without reconciliation.
+							if err := ctrlManager.Start(ctx); err != nil {
+								l.Error("controller-runtime manager exited with error; node reconciler is no longer running", "error", err)
+								shutdowner.Shutdown(hive.ShutdownWithError(err))
+								return errors.Wrap(err, "running controller-runtime manager")
+							}
+							if ctx.Err() == nil {
+								// Start returned early while the agent context is still active.
+								err := errors.New("controller-runtime manager stopped unexpectedly")
+								l.Error("controller-runtime manager stopped unexpectedly; node reconciler is no longer running")
+								shutdowner.Shutdown(hive.ShutdownWithError(err))
+								return err
+							}
+							return nil
+						}); err != nil {
 							return errors.Wrap(err, "failed to submit controller-runtime manager to workerpool")
 						}
 						return nil