diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/fleet/common/services/validate_package_policy.test.ts b/x-pack/plugins/fleet/common/services/validate_package_policy.test.ts
index e4566bacdae54..6d479894793de 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/fleet/common/services/validate_package_policy.test.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/fleet/common/services/validate_package_policy.test.ts
@@ -556,8 +556,7 @@ describe('Fleet - validatePackagePolicy()', () => {
       });
     });
 
-    // TODO enable when https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/125655 is fixed
-    it.skip('returns package policy validation error if input var does not exist', () => {
+    it('returns package policy validation error if input var does not exist', () => {
       expect(
         validatePackagePolicy(
           {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/fleet/common/services/validate_package_policy.ts b/x-pack/plugins/fleet/common/services/validate_package_policy.ts
index 3c0c0e5e92116..d61714b9a3d31 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/fleet/common/services/validate_package_policy.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/fleet/common/services/validate_package_policy.ts
@@ -210,11 +210,15 @@ export const validatePackagePolicyConfig = (
   }
 
   if (varDef === undefined) {
-    // TODO return validation error here once https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/125655 is fixed
-    // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
-    console.debug(`No variable definition for ${varName} found`);
-
-    return null;
+    errors.push(
+      i18n.translate('xpack.fleet.packagePolicyValidation.nonExistentVarMessage', {
+        defaultMessage: '{varName} var definition does not exist',
+        values: {
+          varName,
+        },
+      })
+    );
+    return errors;
   }
 
   if (varDef.required) {