diff --git a/cmd/ocm-backplane/upgrade/upgrade.go b/cmd/ocm-backplane/upgrade/upgrade.go
index c44050ce6..640e7ee59 100644
--- a/cmd/ocm-backplane/upgrade/upgrade.go
+++ b/cmd/ocm-backplane/upgrade/upgrade.go
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ var UpgradeCmd = &cobra.Command{
 
 func runUpgrade(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 
+	if err := validateReleaseVersion(info.Version); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(cmd.Context())
 	defer cancel()
 
@@ -44,3 +48,18 @@ func runUpgrade(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
 
 	return upgrade.UpgradePlugin(ctx, info.Version)
 }
+
+// validateReleaseVersion ensures the binary carries the release version metadata
+// that the native self-upgrade relies on for the SemVer comparison. This metadata
+// is injected via ldflags only when building official release binaries, so a CLI
+// built without that injection (commonly a local source build) has an empty
+// version and cannot self-upgrade.
+func validateReleaseVersion(version string) error {
+	if version == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("release version metadata is missing; this commonly happens when the CLI is built from source without release version injection. " +
+			"Native self-upgrade requires release version metadata. " +
+			"Install or update Backplane CLI through an official release channel")
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/cmd/ocm-backplane/upgrade/upgrade_suite_test.go b/cmd/ocm-backplane/upgrade/upgrade_suite_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d47c1869c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/ocm-backplane/upgrade/upgrade_suite_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+package upgrade
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
+	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+)
+
+func TestUpgrade(t *testing.T) {
+	RegisterFailHandler(Fail)
+	RunSpecs(t, "Upgrade Command Test Suite")
+}
diff --git a/cmd/ocm-backplane/upgrade/upgrade_test.go b/cmd/ocm-backplane/upgrade/upgrade_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aad9b3db8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/ocm-backplane/upgrade/upgrade_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+package upgrade
+
+import (
+	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
+	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+)
+
+var _ = Describe("validateReleaseVersion", func() {
+	Context("when the release version metadata is missing", func() {
+		It("returns a clear, actionable error", func() {
+			err := validateReleaseVersion("")
+
+			Expect(err).To(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(err.Error()).To(ContainSubstring("release version metadata is missing"))
+			Expect(err.Error()).To(ContainSubstring("built from source"))
+			Expect(err.Error()).To(ContainSubstring("official release channel"))
+		})
+
+		It("does not expose the raw SemVer parsing error", func() {
+			err := validateReleaseVersion("")
+
+			Expect(err).To(HaveOccurred())
+			Expect(err.Error()).ToNot(ContainSubstring("Invalid Semantic Version"))
+		})
+	})
+
+	Context("when the release version metadata is present", func() {
+		It("does not trigger the missing-version validation", func() {
+			Expect(validateReleaseVersion("1.0.1")).To(Succeed())
+		})
+
+		It("passes the version through unchanged regardless of its format", func() {
+			Expect(validateReleaseVersion("1.0.1-0.20261009184111-fc8c9e8dedd0")).To(Succeed())
+		})
+	})
+})