diff --git a/internal/controller/issuerconfig/publisher.go b/internal/controller/issuerconfig/publisher.go
index 0098df02..7d1b862f 100644
--- a/internal/controller/issuerconfig/publisher.go
+++ b/internal/controller/issuerconfig/publisher.go
@@ -94,7 +94,11 @@ func (c *publisherController) Sync(ctx controller.Context) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	config, _ := clientcmd.Load([]byte(kubeConfig))
+	config, err := clientcmd.Load([]byte(kubeConfig))
+	if err != nil {
+		klog.InfoS("could not load kubeconfig configmap key")
+		return nil
+	}
 
 	var certificateAuthorityData, server string
 	for _, v := range config.Clusters {
diff --git a/internal/controller/issuerconfig/publisher_test.go b/internal/controller/issuerconfig/publisher_test.go
index efce518d..79fd87cd 100644
--- a/internal/controller/issuerconfig/publisher_test.go
+++ b/internal/controller/issuerconfig/publisher_test.go
@@ -436,6 +436,26 @@ func TestSync(t *testing.T) {
 					r.Empty(pinnipedAPIClient.Actions())
 				})
 			})
+
+			when("the ConfigMap does not have a valid kubeconfig", func() {
+				it.Before(func() {
+					clusterInfoConfigMap := &corev1.ConfigMap{
+						ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "cluster-info", Namespace: "kube-public"},
+						Data: map[string]string{
+							"kubeconfig": "this is an invalid kubeconfig",
+						},
+					}
+					err := kubeInformerClient.Tracker().Add(clusterInfoConfigMap)
+					r.NoError(err)
+				})
+
+				it("keeps waiting for it to be properly formatted", func() {
+					startInformersAndController()
+					err := controller.TestSync(t, subject, *syncContext)
+					r.NoError(err)
+					r.Empty(pinnipedAPIClient.Actions())
+				})
+			})
 		})
 
 		when("there is not a cluster-info ConfigMap in the kube-public namespace", func() {