diff --git a/pkg/receive/config.go b/pkg/receive/config.go
index e1b9754757..98afa60be3 100644
--- a/pkg/receive/config.go
+++ b/pkg/receive/config.go
@@ -153,6 +153,30 @@ const (
 	TenantMatcherGlob tenantMatcher = "glob"
 )
 
+// UnmarshalJSON implements the json.Unmarshaler interface for tenantMatcher.
+// We override the default unmarshaling to provide parse-time validation,
+// ensuring that only valid matchers ("exact" or "glob") are accepted.
+// This allows Thanos to fail fast during configuration loading if a user
+// provides an invalid matcher type, rather than silently falling back at runtime.
+func (t *tenantMatcher) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
+	// Convert Raw Json bytes into a string
+	var str string
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &str); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// Check if that string is valid
+	switch str {
+	case "exact":
+		*t = TenantMatcherTypeExact
+	case "glob":
+		*t = tenantMatcher(str)
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid tenant matcher type: %s", str)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func isExactMatcher(m tenantMatcher) bool {
 	return m == TenantMatcherTypeExact || m == ""
 }
@@ -387,7 +411,24 @@ func ConfigFromWatcher(ctx context.Context, updates chan<- []HashringConfig, cw
 func ParseConfig(content []byte) ([]HashringConfig, error) {
 	var config []HashringConfig
 	err := json.Unmarshal(content, &config)
-	return config, err
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// Post-Parsing Normalization Pass
+	// If the user completely omitted the TenantMatcherType field, Go leaves it as "".
+	// We must explicitly default these omitted fields to "exact" to prevent routing failures.
+	for i := range config {
+		if config[i].TenantMatcherType == "" {
+			config[i].TenantMatcherType = TenantMatcherTypeExact
+		}
+		for j := range config[i].ShuffleShardingConfig.Overrides {
+			if config[i].ShuffleShardingConfig.Overrides[j].TenantMatcherType == "" {
+				config[i].ShuffleShardingConfig.Overrides[j].TenantMatcherType = TenantMatcherTypeExact
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return config, nil
 }
 
 // loadConfig loads raw configuration content and returns a configuration.
diff --git a/pkg/receive/config_test.go b/pkg/receive/config_test.go
index fc7ef76118..9737bfaea1 100644
--- a/pkg/receive/config_test.go
+++ b/pkg/receive/config_test.go
@@ -74,6 +74,81 @@ func TestValidateConfig(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestParseConfig verifies that ParseConfig successfully unmarshals raw JSON
+// configuration and executes a post-parsing normalization pass. Omitted
+// "tenant_matcher_type" fields (both top-level and inside overrides) must
+// automatically hydrate to "exact" to prevent downstream routing bugs.
+func TestParseConfig(t *testing.T) {
+	// JSON payload testing three distinct cases:
+	// 1. Explicit "exact" matcher (should remain unchanged)
+	// 2. Missing "tenant_matcher_type" (should trigger hydration to "exact")
+	// 3. Explicit "glob" matcher (should preserve non-default matchers)
+	inputJSON := []byte(`[
+    {
+        "hashring": "test-ring",
+        "endpoints": ["node-1"],
+        "shuffle_sharding_config": {
+            "shard_size": 2,
+            "overrides": [
+                {
+                    "shard_size": 3,
+                    "tenants": ["tenant-1"],
+                    "tenant_matcher_type": "exact"
+                },
+                {
+                  "shard_size": 4,
+                  "tenants": ["tenant-2"]
+                },
+                {
+                    "shard_size": 5,
+                    "tenants": ["tenant-3"],
+                    "tenant_matcher_type": "glob"
+                }
+            ]
+        }
+    }
+]`)
+	configs, err := ParseConfig(inputJSON)
+	testutil.Ok(t, err)
+	// Assert that ParseConfig returns fully normalized data:
+	// - Top-level TenantMatcherType is hydrated to TenantMatcherTypeExact.
+	// - Omitted override matcher ("tenant-2") is hydrated to TenantMatcherTypeExact.
+	// - Explicit matchers ("tenant-1", "tenant-3") retain their exact values.
+	expected := []HashringConfig{
+		{
+			Hashring:          "test-ring",
+			TenantMatcherType: TenantMatcherTypeExact,
+			Endpoints: []Endpoint{
+				{
+					Address:          "node-1",
+					CapNProtoAddress: "node-1:19391",
+				},
+			},
+			ShuffleShardingConfig: ShuffleShardingConfig{
+				ShardSize: 2,
+				Overrides: []ShuffleShardingOverrideConfig{
+					{
+						ShardSize:         3,
+						Tenants:           []string{"tenant-1"},
+						TenantMatcherType: TenantMatcherTypeExact,
+					},
+					{
+						ShardSize:         4,
+						Tenants:           []string{"tenant-2"},
+						TenantMatcherType: TenantMatcherTypeExact,
+					},
+					{
+						ShardSize:         5,
+						Tenants:           []string{"tenant-3"},
+						TenantMatcherType: TenantMatcherGlob,
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	testutil.Equals(t, expected, configs)
+}
+
 func TestUnmarshalEndpointSlice(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
diff --git a/pkg/receive/hashring_test.go b/pkg/receive/hashring_test.go
index 288dde8987..b0632c7c12 100644
--- a/pkg/receive/hashring_test.go
+++ b/pkg/receive/hashring_test.go
@@ -713,7 +713,7 @@ func TestShuffleShardHashring(t *testing.T) {
 				Overrides: []ShuffleShardingOverrideConfig{
 					{
 						Tenants:   []string{"special-tenant"},
-						ShardSize: 2,
+						ShardSize: 3, // Override Value changed
 					},
 				},
 			},
@@ -927,6 +927,66 @@ func assignReplicatedSeries(series []prompb.TimeSeries, nodes []Endpoint, replic
 	return assignments, nil
 }
 
+// TestTenantMatcher_UnmarshalJSON verifies that the custom JSON unmarshaling
+// logic for the tenantMatcher type strictly validates incoming matcher strings.
+// It ensures supported types ("exact", "glob") are correctly parsed, while
+// unrecognized strings and explicit empty strings ("") are rejected immediately.
+func TestTenantMatcher_UnmarshalJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	// Table-driven test cases covering valid, malformed, and edge-case inputs:
+	for _, tc := range []struct {
+		name        string
+		input       []byte
+		expected    tenantMatcher
+		expectError bool
+	}{
+		{
+			// Unrecognized matcher strings must fail validation at parse time.
+			name:        "Invalid garbage matcher",
+			input:       []byte(`"exakt"`),
+			expected:    "",
+			expectError: true,
+		},
+		{
+			// Explicit "exact" matcher unmarshals successfully.
+			name:        "Valid exact matcher",
+			input:       []byte(`"exact"`),
+			expected:    TenantMatcherTypeExact,
+			expectError: false,
+		},
+		{
+			// Explicit "glob" matcher unmarshals successfully.
+			name:        "Valid glob matcher",
+			input:       []byte(`"glob"`),
+			expected:    TenantMatcherGlob,
+			expectError: false,
+		},
+		{
+			// Explicitly providing "" in JSON must be rejected by UnmarshalJSON.
+			// Defaulting omitted fields to "exact" is handled during post-parse
+			// normalization, NOT by accepting raw empty JSON strings.
+			name:        "Invalid empty matcher (explicitly rejected)",
+			input:       []byte(`""`),
+			expected:    "",
+			expectError: true,
+		},
+	} {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+			var tm tenantMatcher
+			err := tm.UnmarshalJSON(tc.input)
+			// Verify error behavior matches expectation.
+			if (err != nil) != tc.expectError {
+				t.Errorf("UnmarshalJSON() error = %v, wantErr %v", err, tc.expectError)
+			}
+			// Verify resulting enum value matches expected parsed type.
+			if tm != tc.expected {
+				t.Errorf("UnmarshalJSON() got = %v, want %v", tm, tc.expected)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 // TestShuffleShardHashringStability tests that shuffle sharding is stable when
 // adding/removing nodes. When scaling from N to N+1 nodes, at most 1 node should
 // change in a tenant's shard (the "consistency" property).