diff --git a/grype/db/vulnerability_provider.go b/grype/db/vulnerability_provider.go
index faff3264..3453eb38 100644
--- a/grype/db/vulnerability_provider.go
+++ b/grype/db/vulnerability_provider.go
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ func (pr *VulnerabilityProvider) Get(id, namespace string) ([]vulnerability.Vuln
 	for _, vuln := range vulns {
 		vulnObj, err := vulnerability.NewVulnerability(vuln)
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("provider failed to inflate vulnerability record (namespace=%q id=%q): %w", vuln.Namespace, vuln.ID, err)
+			log.WithFields("namespace", vuln.Namespace, "id", vuln.ID).Errorf("failed to inflate vulnerability record: %v", err)
+			continue
 		}
 
 		results = append(results, *vulnObj)
@@ -87,7 +88,8 @@ func (pr *VulnerabilityProvider) GetByDistro(d *distro.Distro, p pkg.Package) ([
 			for _, vuln := range allPkgVulns {
 				vulnObj, err := vulnerability.NewVulnerability(vuln)
 				if err != nil {
-					return nil, fmt.Errorf("provider failed to inflate vulnerability record (namespace=%q id=%q distro=%q): %w", vuln.Namespace, vuln.ID, d, err)
+					log.WithFields("namespace", vuln.Namespace, "id", vuln.ID).Errorf("failed to inflate vulnerability record (by distro): %v", err)
+					continue
 				}
 
 				vulnerabilities = append(vulnerabilities, *vulnObj)
@@ -121,7 +123,8 @@ func (pr *VulnerabilityProvider) GetByLanguage(l syftPkg.Language, p pkg.Package
 			for _, vuln := range allPkgVulns {
 				vulnObj, err := vulnerability.NewVulnerability(vuln)
 				if err != nil {
-					return nil, fmt.Errorf("provider failed to inflate vulnerability record (namespace=%q id=%q language=%q): %w", vuln.Namespace, vuln.ID, l, err)
+					log.WithFields("namespace", vuln.Namespace, "id", vuln.ID).Errorf("failed to inflate vulnerability record (by language): %v", err)
+					continue
 				}
 
 				vulnerabilities = append(vulnerabilities, *vulnObj)
@@ -169,7 +172,8 @@ func (pr *VulnerabilityProvider) GetByCPE(requestCPE cpe.CPE) ([]vulnerability.V
 			if len(candidateMatchCpes) > 0 {
 				vulnObj, err := vulnerability.NewVulnerability(vuln)
 				if err != nil {
-					return nil, fmt.Errorf("provider failed to inflate vulnerability record (namespace=%q id=%q cpe=%q): %w", vuln.Namespace, vuln.ID, requestCPE.Attributes.BindToFmtString(), err)
+					log.WithFields("namespace", vuln.Namespace, "id", vuln.ID, "cpe", requestCPE.Attributes.BindToFmtString()).Errorf("failed to inflate vulnerability record (by CPE): %v", err)
+					continue
 				}
 
 				vulnObj.CPEs = candidateMatchCpes
diff --git a/grype/db/vulnerability_provider_mocks_test.go b/grype/db/vulnerability_provider_mocks_test.go
index 06db793b..a4704156 100644
--- a/grype/db/vulnerability_provider_mocks_test.go
+++ b/grype/db/vulnerability_provider_mocks_test.go
@@ -31,6 +31,14 @@ func (d *mockStore) stub() {
 				ID:                "CVE-2013-fake-2",
 				VersionFormat:     "deb",
 			},
+			// poison the well! this is not a valid entry, but we want the matching process to survive and find other good results...
+			{
+				PackageName:       "neutron",
+				Namespace:         "debian:distro:debian:8",
+				VersionConstraint: "< 70.3.0-rc0", // intentionally bad value
+				ID:                "CVE-2014-fake-3",
+				VersionFormat:     "apk",
+			},
 		},
 	}
 	d.data["nvd:cpe"] = map[string][]grypeDB.Vulnerability{
@@ -62,7 +70,7 @@ func (d *mockStore) stub() {
 				ID:                "CVE-2014-fake-5",
 				VersionFormat:     "unknown",
 				CPEs: []string{
-					"cpe:2.3:*:couldntgetthisrightcouldyou:activerecord:4.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
+					"cpe:2.3:*:couldntgetthisrightcouldyou:activerecord:4.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*", // shouldn't match on this
 				},
 			},
 			{
@@ -72,7 +80,18 @@ func (d *mockStore) stub() {
 				ID:                "CVE-2014-fake-6",
 				VersionFormat:     "unknown",
 				CPEs: []string{
-					"cpe:2.3:*:awesome:awesome:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
+					"cpe:2.3:*:awesome:awesome:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*", // shouldn't match on this
+				},
+			},
+			// poison the well! this is not a valid entry, but we want the matching process to survive and find other good results...
+			{
+				PackageName:       "activerecord",
+				Namespace:         "nvd:cpe",
+				VersionConstraint: "< 70.3.0-rc0", // intentionally bad value
+				ID:                "CVE-2014-fake-7",
+				VersionFormat:     "apk",
+				CPEs: []string{
+					"cpe:2.3:*:activerecord:activerecord:*:*:*:*:*:rails:*:*",
 				},
 			},
 		},
diff --git a/grype/db/vulnerability_provider_test.go b/grype/db/vulnerability_provider_test.go
index 26163b8f..cd3f5e6e 100644
--- a/grype/db/vulnerability_provider_test.go
+++ b/grype/db/vulnerability_provider_test.go
@@ -198,4 +198,9 @@ func Test_Get(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Errorf("diff: %+v", d)
 		}
 	}
+
+	// prove we survive a bad request
+	actual, err = provider.Get("CVE-2014-fake-3", "debian:distro:debian:8")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Empty(t, actual)
 }