diff --git a/tests/integration/go.mod b/tests/integration/go.mod
index 5e216d2ad..efcfcbe52 100644
--- a/tests/integration/go.mod
+++ b/tests/integration/go.mod
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ require (
 	github.com/operator-framework/operator-registry v1.50.0
 	github.com/sirupsen/logrus v1.9.4
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.1
+	k8s.io/api v0.32.0
+	sigs.k8s.io/yaml v1.4.0
 )
 
 require (
@@ -125,7 +127,7 @@ require (
 	gopkg.in/warnings.v0 v0.1.2 // indirect
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0 // indirect
 	gotest.tools/v3 v3.5.1 // indirect
-	k8s.io/api v0.32.0 // indirect
+	k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver v0.32.0 // indirect
 	k8s.io/apimachinery v0.32.0 // indirect
 	k8s.io/client-go v0.32.0 // indirect
 	k8s.io/klog/v2 v2.130.1 // indirect
@@ -133,5 +135,4 @@ require (
 	k8s.io/utils v0.0.0-20241104100929-3ea5e8cea738 // indirect
 	sigs.k8s.io/json v0.0.0-20241010143419-9aa6b5e7a4b3 // indirect
 	sigs.k8s.io/structured-merge-diff/v4 v4.4.2 // indirect
-	sigs.k8s.io/yaml v1.4.0 // indirect
 )
diff --git a/tests/integration/go.sum b/tests/integration/go.sum
index 725b1d96a..831bf6fe6 100644
--- a/tests/integration/go.sum
+++ b/tests/integration/go.sum
@@ -389,6 +389,7 @@ gotest.tools/v3 v3.5.1 h1:EENdUnS3pdur5nybKYIh2Vfgc8IUNBjxDPSjtiJcOzU=
 gotest.tools/v3 v3.5.1/go.mod h1:isy3WKz7GK6uNw/sbHzfKBLvlvXwUyV06n6brMxxopU=
 k8s.io/api v0.32.0 h1:OL9JpbvAU5ny9ga2fb24X8H6xQlVp+aJMFlgtQjR9CE=
 k8s.io/api v0.32.0/go.mod h1:4LEwHZEf6Q/cG96F3dqR965sYOfmPM7rq81BLgsE0p0=
+k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver v0.32.0/go.mod h1:86hblMvN5yxMvZrZFX2OhIHAuFIMJIZ19bTvzkP+Fmw=
 k8s.io/apimachinery v0.32.0 h1:cFSE7N3rmEEtv4ei5X6DaJPHHX0C+upp+v5lVPiEwpg=
 k8s.io/apimachinery v0.32.0/go.mod h1:GpHVgxoKlTxClKcteaeuF1Ul/lDVb74KpZcxcmLDElE=
 k8s.io/client-go v0.32.0 h1:DimtMcnN/JIKZcrSrstiwvvZvLjG0aSxy8PxN8IChp8=
diff --git a/tests/integration/signature_test.go b/tests/integration/signature_test.go
index 0dcc5bee8..70bada444 100644
--- a/tests/integration/signature_test.go
+++ b/tests/integration/signature_test.go
@@ -1,9 +1,17 @@
 package integration_test
 
 import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 
 	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
+	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/yaml"
+
+	"github.com/openshift/oc-mirror/tests/integration/pkg/ocmirror"
 )
 
 var _ = Describe("signatures", func() {
@@ -48,6 +56,9 @@ var _ = Describe("signatures", func() {
 		By("verifying signatures are present in the local registry")
 		expectSignaturesInRegistry(*testRegistry)
 
+		By("verifying the signature configmap was generated correctly")
+		expectSignatureConfigMapGenerated(workDir)
+
 		By("running delete with --delete-signatures")
 		result, err = runner.DeletePhaseOne(ctx, filepath.Join(iscDir, discSignatures), workDir, "", testRegistry.Endpoint(),
 			"--delete-signatures")
@@ -86,4 +97,109 @@ var _ = Describe("signatures", func() {
 		By("verifying signature tags are still present")
 		expectOnlySignatureTagsRemain(*testRegistry)
 	})
+
+	It("fails gracefully when it fails to retrieve the release signature", func() {
+		// Use a plain, unseeded working directory so no cached signature is found,
+		// forcing oc-mirror to fetch it from OCP_SIGNATURE_URL.
+		unseededWorkDir, err := os.MkdirTemp("", "oc-mirror-test-*")
+		Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+		defer cleanupWorkDir(unseededWorkDir)
+
+		By("running mirrorToDisk with an unreachable signature server")
+		failingSigRunner := ocmirror.NewRunner(os.Getenv("OC_MIRROR_BINARY")).
+			WithEnv([]string{"OCP_SIGNATURE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:1/"})
+		result, err := failingSigRunner.MirrorToDisk(ctx, filepath.Join(iscDir, iscSignatures), unseededWorkDir)
+
+		By("verifying oc-mirror failed gracefully instead of panicking")
+		expectOcMirrorExitCode(result, err, 2, "collection error", "http request")
+		expectNoTarArchive(unseededWorkDir)
+	})
+
+	Describe("release signature configmap", func() {
+		It("should not generate a signature configmap when --ignore-release-signature is used", func() {
+			// Use a plain, unseeded working directory to guarantee no signature is ever
+			// cached, regardless of --ignore-release-signature.
+			unseededWorkDir, err := os.MkdirTemp("", "oc-mirror-test-*")
+			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+			defer cleanupWorkDir(unseededWorkDir)
+
+			By("running mirrorToDisk with --ignore-release-signature")
+			result, err := runner.MirrorToDisk(ctx, filepath.Join(iscDir, iscSignatures), unseededWorkDir, "--ignore-release-signature")
+			expectOcMirrorCommandSuccess(result, err)
+
+			By("running diskToMirror with --ignore-release-signature")
+			result, err = runner.DiskToMirror(ctx, filepath.Join(iscDir, iscSignatures), unseededWorkDir, testRegistry.Endpoint(),
+				"--ignore-release-signature", "--dest-tls-verify=false")
+			expectOcMirrorCommandSuccess(result, err)
+
+			By("verifying no signature configmap was generated since no signature was ever cached")
+			expectNoSignatureConfigMap(unseededWorkDir)
+		})
+	})
 })
+
+// expectSignatureConfigMapGenerated verifies that the release signature configmap
+// (both JSON and YAML) was generated in working-dir/cluster-resources with the
+// expected static name, and that every binaryData entry in the configmap is backed
+// by a cached signature file in working-dir/signatures with matching content.
+// Note: the configmap only contains signatures for images that were actually
+// mirrored as OCP releases, so not every file on disk is necessarily present in
+// the configmap.
+func expectSignatureConfigMapGenerated(workDir string) {
+	crDir := filepath.Join(workDir, dirWorkingDir, dirClusterResources)
+
+	var jsonCM corev1.ConfigMap
+	jsonData, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(crDir, "signature-configmap.json"))
+	Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred(), "signature-configmap.json not found")
+	Expect(json.Unmarshal(jsonData, &jsonCM)).To(Succeed(), "failed to unmarshal signature-configmap.json")
+
+	var yamlCM corev1.ConfigMap
+	yamlData, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(crDir, "signature-configmap.yaml"))
+	Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred(), "signature-configmap.yaml not found")
+	Expect(yaml.Unmarshal(yamlData, &yamlCM)).To(Succeed(), "failed to unmarshal signature-configmap.yaml")
+
+	for _, cm := range []corev1.ConfigMap{jsonCM, yamlCM} {
+		Expect(cm.Name).To(Equal("mirrored-release-signatures"))
+		Expect(cm.BinaryData).NotTo(BeEmpty())
+		for key := range cm.BinaryData {
+			Expect(key).To(MatchRegexp(`^sha256-[0-9a-f]{64}-\d+$`), "unexpected binaryData key format: %s", key)
+		}
+	}
+	Expect(jsonCM.BinaryData).To(Equal(yamlCM.BinaryData), "json and yaml signature configmaps disagree on binaryData")
+
+	sigDir := filepath.Join(workDir, dirWorkingDir, "signatures")
+	entries, err := os.ReadDir(sigDir)
+	Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+	Expect(entries).NotTo(BeEmpty(), "no cached signature files found in %s", sigDir)
+
+	// Verify every configmap entry is backed by a real signature file on disk.
+	// Key format is "sha256-<hex_digest>-<number>"; extract the hex digest.
+	for key, val := range jsonCM.BinaryData {
+		parts := strings.SplitN(key, "-", 3)
+		Expect(parts).To(HaveLen(3), "unexpected binaryData key format: %s", key)
+		digest := parts[1]
+
+		found := false
+		for _, f := range entries {
+			if strings.Contains(f.Name(), digest) {
+				data, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(sigDir, f.Name()))
+				Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+				Expect(val).To(Equal(data), "binaryData content mismatch for key %s and file %s", key, f.Name())
+				found = true
+				break
+			}
+		}
+		Expect(found).To(BeTrue(), "no signature file found for configmap key %s", key)
+	}
+}
+
+// expectNoSignatureConfigMap verifies that no release signature configmap was generated.
+func expectNoSignatureConfigMap(workDir string) {
+	crDir := filepath.Join(workDir, dirWorkingDir, dirClusterResources)
+
+	_, errJSON := os.Stat(filepath.Join(crDir, "signature-configmap.json"))
+	Expect(os.IsNotExist(errJSON)).To(BeTrue(), "expected signature-configmap.json to not exist")
+
+	_, errYAML := os.Stat(filepath.Join(crDir, "signature-configmap.yaml"))
+	Expect(os.IsNotExist(errYAML)).To(BeTrue(), "expected signature-configmap.yaml to not exist")
+}