diff --git a/changelog.d/fixes/7837-release-green-eslint-json.md b/changelog.d/fixes/7837-release-green-eslint-json.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..77af4754ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/fixes/7837-release-green-eslint-json.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- fix(quality): tolerate ESLint's trailing unpruned-suppressions stderr text in validate-release-green (#7837)
diff --git a/scripts/quality/validate-release-green.mjs b/scripts/quality/validate-release-green.mjs
index a14b80051d..e1adca9927 100644
--- a/scripts/quality/validate-release-green.mjs
+++ b/scripts/quality/validate-release-green.mjs
@@ -113,15 +113,55 @@ export function eslintCounts(parsed) {
   return { errors, warnings };
 }
 
-/** Parse the eslint JSON array out of mixed stdout (tolerates a leading banner). */
+/**
+ * Parse the eslint JSON array out of mixed stdout (tolerates a leading banner AND trailing
+ * non-JSON text, e.g. ESLint 9.x's `--suppressions-location` "unpruned suppressions" stderr
+ * sentence glued onto the report when stdout+stderr are concatenated — #7837).
+ */
 export function parseEslintJson(out) {
-  const start = String(out || "").indexOf("[");
+  const str = String(out || "");
+  const start = str.indexOf("[");
   if (start < 0) return null;
+  // Fast path: the whole remainder is valid JSON (no trailing text).
   try {
-    return JSON.parse(String(out).slice(start));
+    return JSON.parse(str.slice(start));
   } catch {
-    return null;
+    // fall through to bracket-depth scan below
   }
+  // Slow path: find the matching closing "]" for the array that starts at `start`, tolerating
+  // any non-JSON text appended after it. Depth-tracks brackets while skipping over string
+  // literals (so a "]" or "[" inside a message string doesn't miscount).
+  let depth = 0;
+  let inString = false;
+  let escaped = false;
+  for (let i = start; i < str.length; i++) {
+    const ch = str[i];
+    if (inString) {
+      if (escaped) {
+        escaped = false;
+      } else if (ch === "\\") {
+        escaped = true;
+      } else if (ch === '"') {
+        inString = false;
+      }
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (ch === '"') {
+      inString = true;
+    } else if (ch === "[") {
+      depth++;
+    } else if (ch === "]") {
+      depth--;
+      if (depth === 0) {
+        try {
+          return JSON.parse(str.slice(start, i + 1));
+        } catch {
+          return null;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return null;
 }
 
 /** Pull the cognitive-complexity violation count from the gate's output. */
@@ -368,6 +408,11 @@ async function main() {
         "json",
         "--suppressions-location",
         "config/quality/eslint-suppressions.json",
+        // An "unpruned" suppression means a previously-frozen violation was legitimately
+        // fixed — release-time housekeeping (same bucket as ratchet drift), never a
+        // contributor-blocking defect. Without this flag ESLint 9.x exits 2 for that
+        // reason alone, which used to mask the real `--format json` report (#7837).
+        "--pass-on-unpruned-suppressions",
       ],
       { timeout: 30 * 60 * 1000 }
     );
diff --git a/tests/unit/validate-release-green.test.ts b/tests/unit/validate-release-green.test.ts
index 7626975264..bd37c75ae5 100644
--- a/tests/unit/validate-release-green.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/validate-release-green.test.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,21 @@ test("parseEslintJson tolerates a leading non-JSON banner", () => {
   assert.equal(parseEslintJson("no json here"), null);
 });
 
+test("parseEslintJson tolerates ESLint's trailing unpruned-suppressions stderr sentence (#7837)", () => {
+  // ESLint 9.x's `--suppressions-location` feature prints the valid `--format json` report to
+  // stdout first, then — if the suppressions file has stale/"unpruned" entries — appends this
+  // exact sentence to stderr and exits 2. The gate concatenates stdout+stderr, so
+  // parseEslintJson() must recover the JSON report even with this trailing text glued on.
+  const eslintJsonReport = JSON.stringify([
+    { filePath: "open-sse/executors/example.ts", errorCount: 0, warningCount: 0, messages: [] },
+  ]);
+  const stderrTail =
+    "There are suppressions left that do not occur anymore. Consider re-running the command with `--prune-suppressions`.\n";
+  assert.deepEqual(parseEslintJson(eslintJsonReport + stderrTail), [
+    { filePath: "open-sse/executors/example.ts", errorCount: 0, warningCount: 0, messages: [] },
+  ]);
+});
+
 test("parseCognitiveCount reads the gate's count (en + pt)", () => {
   assert.equal(parseCognitiveCount("[cognitive-complexity] 797 function(s) exceed the threshold (15)."), 797);
   assert.equal(parseCognitiveCount("[cognitive-complexity] REGRESSÃO — 801 violações > baseline 797"), 801);