diff --git a/.changeset/chatty-dodos-design.md b/.changeset/chatty-dodos-design.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d998f09250
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/chatty-dodos-design.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+'@backstage/plugin-scaffolder-backend': patch
+'@backstage/backend-defaults': patch
+---
+
+Fixed WinstonLogger throwing when redactions were null or undefined
diff --git a/.github/vale/config/vocabularies/Backstage/accept.txt b/.github/vale/config/vocabularies/Backstage/accept.txt
index 430e76a2ce..7b7bf79dbc 100644
--- a/.github/vale/config/vocabularies/Backstage/accept.txt
+++ b/.github/vale/config/vocabularies/Backstage/accept.txt
@@ -367,6 +367,7 @@ readonly
 rebase
 rebasing
 Recharts
+redactions
 Redash
 redis
 reimplement
diff --git a/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/rootLogger/WinstonLogger.test.ts b/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/rootLogger/WinstonLogger.test.ts
index 39293dcc55..7208c22d39 100644
--- a/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/rootLogger/WinstonLogger.test.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/rootLogger/WinstonLogger.test.ts
@@ -110,4 +110,12 @@ describe('WinstonLogger', () => {
       `={"foo":{"bar":{"baz":"qux"}}}`,
     );
   });
+
+  it('should handle null and undefined values in redactions without crashing', () => {
+    const { add } = WinstonLogger.redacter();
+
+    expect(() => {
+      add([null as any, undefined as any, 'valid-secret']);
+    }).not.toThrow();
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/rootLogger/WinstonLogger.ts b/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/rootLogger/WinstonLogger.ts
index 545c9377b2..1b6b9db900 100644
--- a/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/rootLogger/WinstonLogger.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/rootLogger/WinstonLogger.ts
@@ -99,6 +99,10 @@ export class WinstonLogger implements RootLoggerService {
       add(newRedactions) {
         let added = 0;
         for (const redactionToTrim of newRedactions) {
+          // Skip null or undefined values
+          if (redactionToTrim === null || redactionToTrim === undefined) {
+            continue;
+          }
           // Trimming the string ensures that we don't accdentally get extra
           // newlines or other whitespace interfering with the redaction; this
           // can happen for example when using string literals in yaml
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/tasks/logger.test.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/tasks/logger.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ae83c1d719
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/tasks/logger.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2025 The Backstage Authors
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+import { WinstonLogger } from './logger';
+import { MESSAGE } from 'triple-beam';
+
+describe('WinstonLogger', () => {
+  describe('redacter', () => {
+    describe('add method', () => {
+      it('should handle null and undefined values in newRedactions without crashing', () => {
+        const { add, format } = WinstonLogger.redacter();
+
+        expect(() => {
+          add([null as any, undefined as any, 'valid-secret']);
+        }).not.toThrow();
+
+        const testObj = {
+          level: 'info',
+          message: 'This contains valid-secret and should be redacted',
+          [MESSAGE]: 'This contains valid-secret and should be redacted',
+        };
+        const result = format.transform(testObj);
+        expect((result as any)?.[MESSAGE]).toBe(
+          'This contains *** and should be redacted',
+        );
+      });
+
+      it('should skip empty and single character redactions', () => {
+        const { add, format } = WinstonLogger.redacter();
+
+        add(['', 'x', 'valid-secret-123']);
+
+        // MESSAGE symbol is where Winston stores the formatted message for redaction
+        const testObj = {
+          level: 'info',
+          message: 'This contains valid-secret-123 and should be redacted',
+          [MESSAGE]: 'This contains valid-secret-123 and should be redacted',
+        };
+
+        const result = format.transform(testObj);
+        expect((result as any)?.[MESSAGE]).toBe(
+          'This contains *** and should be redacted',
+        );
+      });
+
+      it('should trim whitespace from redactions', () => {
+        const { add, format } = WinstonLogger.redacter();
+
+        add(['  secret-with-spaces  \n', '  another-secret\t']);
+
+        const testObj = {
+          level: 'info',
+          message: 'This contains secret-with-spaces and another-secret',
+          [MESSAGE]: 'This contains secret-with-spaces and another-secret',
+        };
+
+        const result = format.transform(testObj);
+        expect((result as any)?.[MESSAGE]).toBe('This contains *** and ***');
+      });
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/tasks/logger.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/tasks/logger.ts
index 38263b73ca..a8e844c827 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/tasks/logger.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/tasks/logger.ts
@@ -132,6 +132,10 @@ export class WinstonLogger implements RootLoggerService {
       add(newRedactions) {
         let added = 0;
         for (const redactionToTrim of newRedactions) {
+          // Skip null or undefined values
+          if (redactionToTrim === null || redactionToTrim === undefined) {
+            continue;
+          }
           // Trimming the string ensures that we don't accdentally get extra
           // newlines or other whitespace interfering with the redaction; this
           // can happen for example when using string literals in yaml