diff --git a/packages/beacon-node/src/network/processor/extractSlotRootFns.ts b/packages/beacon-node/src/network/processor/extractSlotRootFns.ts
index 9ebc959e07e6..13a5ec1e3d65 100644
--- a/packages/beacon-node/src/network/processor/extractSlotRootFns.ts
+++ b/packages/beacon-node/src/network/processor/extractSlotRootFns.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import {ForkName, ForkSeq} from "@lodestar/params";
 import {SlotOptionalRoot, SlotRootHex} from "@lodestar/types";
 import {
   getBeaconBlockRootFromDataColumnSidecarSerialized,
+  getBeaconBlockRootFromFuluDataColumnSidecarSerialized,
   getBlockRootFromBeaconAttestationSerialized,
   getBlockRootFromPayloadAttestationMessageSerialized,
   getBlockRootFromSignedAggregateAndProofSerialized,
@@ -65,7 +66,8 @@ export function createExtractBlockSlotRootFns(): ExtractSlotRootFns {
       }
 
       if (ForkSeq[fork] < ForkSeq.gloas) {
-        return {slot};
+        const root = getBeaconBlockRootFromFuluDataColumnSidecarSerialized(data);
+        return root !== null ? {slot, root} : {slot};
       }
 
       const root = getBeaconBlockRootFromDataColumnSidecarSerialized(data);
diff --git a/packages/beacon-node/src/network/processor/index.ts b/packages/beacon-node/src/network/processor/index.ts
index 8e51e35d95d2..8209ab8a4d46 100644
--- a/packages/beacon-node/src/network/processor/index.ts
+++ b/packages/beacon-node/src/network/processor/index.ts
@@ -390,6 +390,12 @@ export class NetworkProcessor {
       preprocessResult = {action: PreprocessAction.PushToQueue};
     }
 
+    if (topicType === GossipType.data_column_sidecar && ForkSeq[fork] < ForkSeq.gloas) {
+      // Fulu sidecar validation only needs the parent block/state, not the block referenced by the sidecar itself.
+      // Trigger unknown block sync above, but continue validation without waiting for the full block.
+      preprocessResult = {action: PreprocessAction.PushToQueue};
+    }
+
     if (ForkSeq[fork] >= ForkSeq.gloas) {
       // specific check for each topic
       // note that it's supposed to NOT queue beacon_block (handled above) and execution_payload because it's not a one-off;
diff --git a/packages/beacon-node/src/util/sszBytes.ts b/packages/beacon-node/src/util/sszBytes.ts
index 725d2fa6954c..2283fee7aa29 100644
--- a/packages/beacon-node/src/util/sszBytes.ts
+++ b/packages/beacon-node/src/util/sszBytes.ts
@@ -524,6 +524,7 @@ export function getSlotFromBlobSidecarSerialized(data: Uint8Array): Slot | null
 const SLOT_BYTES_POSITION_IN_SIGNED_DATA_COLUMN_SIDECAR_PRE_GLOAS = 20;
 const SLOT_BYTES_POSITION_IN_SIGNED_DATA_COLUMN_SIDECAR_POST_GLOAS = 16;
 const BEACON_BLOCK_ROOT_POSITION_IN_GLOAS_DATA_COLUMN_SIDECAR = 24;
+const BEACON_BLOCK_HEADER_SIZE = SLOT_SIZE + 8 + ROOT_SIZE + ROOT_SIZE + ROOT_SIZE;
 
 export function getSlotFromDataColumnSidecarSerialized(data: Uint8Array, fork: ForkName): Slot | null {
   const offset = isForkPostGloas(fork)
@@ -551,6 +552,26 @@ export function getBeaconBlockRootFromDataColumnSidecarSerialized(data: Uint8Arr
   return "0x" + blockRootBuf.toString("hex");
 }
 
+export function getBeaconBlockRootFromFuluDataColumnSidecarSerialized(data: Uint8Array): RootHex | null {
+  if (data.length < SLOT_BYTES_POSITION_IN_SIGNED_DATA_COLUMN_SIDECAR_PRE_GLOAS + BEACON_BLOCK_HEADER_SIZE) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  try {
+    const blockHeader = ssz.phase0.BeaconBlockHeader.deserialize(
+      data.subarray(
+        SLOT_BYTES_POSITION_IN_SIGNED_DATA_COLUMN_SIDECAR_PRE_GLOAS,
+        SLOT_BYTES_POSITION_IN_SIGNED_DATA_COLUMN_SIDECAR_PRE_GLOAS + BEACON_BLOCK_HEADER_SIZE
+      )
+    );
+    const blockRoot = ssz.phase0.BeaconBlockHeader.hashTreeRoot(blockHeader);
+    blockRootBuf.set(blockRoot);
+    return `0x${blockRootBuf.toString("hex")}`;
+  } catch {
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * SignedExecutionPayloadEnvelope SSZ Layout:
  * ├─ 4 bytes: message offset (points to byte 100)
diff --git a/packages/beacon-node/test/unit/util/sszBytes.test.ts b/packages/beacon-node/test/unit/util/sszBytes.test.ts
index b58562abd8cd..1aa80dd0e6aa 100644
--- a/packages/beacon-node/test/unit/util/sszBytes.test.ts
+++ b/packages/beacon-node/test/unit/util/sszBytes.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import {describe, expect, it} from "vitest";
+import {describe, expect, it, vi} from "vitest";
 import {BitArray} from "@chainsafe/ssz";
 import {createChainForkConfig} from "@lodestar/config";
 import {ForkName, MAX_COMMITTEES_PER_SLOT} from "@lodestar/params";
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import {
   getAttesterIndexFromSingleAttestationSerialized,
   getBeaconBlockRootFromDataColumnSidecarSerialized,
   getBeaconBlockRootFromExecutionPayloadEnvelopeSerialized,
+  getBeaconBlockRootFromFuluDataColumnSidecarSerialized,
   getBlobKzgCommitmentsCountFromSignedBeaconBlockSerialized,
   getBlockRootFromAttestationSerialized,
   getBlockRootFromPayloadAttestationMessageSerialized,
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ import {
   getSlotFromSignedExecutionPayloadBidSerialized,
   getSlotFromSingleAttestationSerialized,
 } from "../../../src/util/sszBytes.js";
+import {generateBlockWithColumnSidecars} from "../../utils/blocksAndData.js";
 import {generateRandomBlob} from "../../utils/kzg.js";
 
 describe("SinlgeAttestation SSZ serialized picking", () => {
@@ -611,6 +613,13 @@ describe("DataColumnSidecar SSZ serialized picking (fork-aware)", () => {
       });
     }
 
+    it("getBeaconBlockRootFromFuluDataColumnSidecarSerialized", () => {
+      const {columnSidecars, rootHex} = generateBlockWithColumnSidecars({forkName: ForkName.fulu});
+      const bytes = ssz.fulu.DataColumnSidecar.serialize(columnSidecars[0]);
+
+      expect(getBeaconBlockRootFromFuluDataColumnSidecarSerialized(bytes)).toBe(rootHex);
+    });
+
     it("getSlotFromDataColumnSidecarSerialized - invalid data", () => {
       // Slot is at offset 20 for pre-Gloas, need at least 28 bytes
       const invalidSizes = [0, 10, 27];
@@ -618,6 +627,25 @@ describe("DataColumnSidecar SSZ serialized picking (fork-aware)", () => {
         expect(getSlotFromDataColumnSidecarSerialized(Buffer.alloc(size), ForkName.fulu)).toBeNull();
       }
     });
+
+    it("getBeaconBlockRootFromFuluDataColumnSidecarSerialized - invalid data", () => {
+      const invalidSizes = [0, 20, 131];
+      for (const size of invalidSizes) {
+        expect(getBeaconBlockRootFromFuluDataColumnSidecarSerialized(Buffer.alloc(size))).toBeNull();
+      }
+    });
+
+    it("getBeaconBlockRootFromFuluDataColumnSidecarSerialized - returns null if header parsing throws", () => {
+      const {columnSidecars} = generateBlockWithColumnSidecars({forkName: ForkName.fulu});
+      const bytes = ssz.fulu.DataColumnSidecar.serialize(columnSidecars[0]);
+      const deserializeSpy = vi.spyOn(ssz.phase0.BeaconBlockHeader, "deserialize").mockImplementation(() => {
+        throw new Error();
+      });
+
+      expect(getBeaconBlockRootFromFuluDataColumnSidecarSerialized(bytes)).toBeNull();
+
+      deserializeSpy.mockRestore();
+    });
   });
 
   describe("Gloas", () => {