diff --git a/packages/system/dashboard/images/console/apps/console/src/lib/focus-first-error.test.ts b/packages/system/dashboard/images/console/apps/console/src/lib/focus-first-error.test.ts
index a12dabb0e..8ce315cbe 100644
--- a/packages/system/dashboard/images/console/apps/console/src/lib/focus-first-error.test.ts
+++ b/packages/system/dashboard/images/console/apps/console/src/lib/focus-first-error.test.ts
@@ -60,6 +60,29 @@ describe("focusFirstError", () => {
     expect(document.activeElement).toBe(first)
   })
 
+  // A bare prefix match would grab any sibling whose id merely starts with the
+  // same string, scrolling to a field the user was not asked about.
+  it("does not fall back to a sibling that merely shares the prefix", () => {
+    document.body.innerHTML = `<input id="root_database" />`
+
+    focusFirstError({ property: ".data" })
+
+    expect(document.getElementById("root_data")).toBeNull()
+    expect(document.activeElement).toBe(document.body)
+  })
+
+  it("falls back to a nested input under the errored object", () => {
+    document.body.innerHTML = `
+      <input id="root_database" />
+      <input id="root_data_host" />
+    `
+    const nested = document.getElementById("root_data_host")
+
+    focusFirstError({ property: ".data" })
+
+    expect(document.activeElement).toBe(nested)
+  })
+
   it("does nothing when the field is nowhere in the document", () => {
     document.body.innerHTML = `<input id="root_other" />`
 
diff --git a/packages/system/dashboard/images/console/apps/console/src/lib/focus-first-error.ts b/packages/system/dashboard/images/console/apps/console/src/lib/focus-first-error.ts
index 794024a0f..91b137515 100644
--- a/packages/system/dashboard/images/console/apps/console/src/lib/focus-first-error.ts
+++ b/packages/system/dashboard/images/console/apps/console/src/lib/focus-first-error.ts
@@ -18,8 +18,9 @@ function propertySegments(property: string): string[] {
  *
  * Not every widget puts that id on an element. `SourceField` and
  * `SourceWidget` render radios carrying only `name="<id>-source"`, so an exact
- * lookup finds nothing and the submit scrolls nowhere. Fall back to the first
- * input whose id or name starts with the generated id.
+ * lookup finds nothing and the submit scrolls nowhere. Fall back to a
+ * descendant input, matched on a segment boundary: a bare prefix would let an
+ * error on `data` grab the sibling `database`, scrolling to the wrong field.
  */
 export function focusFirstError(
   error: Pick<RJSFValidationError, "property">,
@@ -27,11 +28,13 @@ export function focusFirstError(
   idSeparator = "_",
 ) {
   const id = [idPrefix, ...propertySegments(error.property ?? "")].join(idSeparator)
-  const escaped = id.replace(/["\\]/g, "\\$&")
+  const quote = (v: string) => v.replace(/["\\]/g, "\\$&")
+  const escaped = quote(id)
+  const escapedSeparator = quote(idSeparator)
   const field =
     document.getElementById(id) ??
     document.querySelector<HTMLElement>(
-      `input[id^="${escaped}"], input[name^="${escaped}"]`,
+      `input[id^="${escaped}${escapedSeparator}"], input[name^="${escaped}-"]`,
     )
   field?.scrollIntoView?.({ block: "center" })
   field?.focus?.({ preventScroll: true })