diff --git a/backends-velox/src/test/scala/org/apache/gluten/execution/FallbackSuite.scala b/backends-velox/src/test/scala/org/apache/gluten/execution/FallbackSuite.scala
index 5250ab7df716..421e0959f152 100644
--- a/backends-velox/src/test/scala/org/apache/gluten/execution/FallbackSuite.scala
+++ b/backends-velox/src/test/scala/org/apache/gluten/execution/FallbackSuite.scala
@@ -324,6 +324,10 @@ class FallbackSuite extends VeloxWholeStageTransformerSuite with AdaptiveSparkPl
         }
       }
     }
+    // Drain any pending events from previous tests before registering the listener.
+    // Spark's LiveListenerBus is async, so events posted but not yet dispatched will
+    // still be delivered to listeners added afterwards, contaminating `events` here.
+    GlutenSuiteUtils.waitUntilEmpty(spark.sparkContext)
     spark.sparkContext.addSparkListener(listener)
     withSQLConf(GlutenConfig.COLUMNAR_SORT_ENABLED.key -> "false") {
       try {
@@ -345,7 +349,7 @@ class FallbackSuite extends VeloxWholeStageTransformerSuite with AdaptiveSparkPl
         val fallbackReasons = events.flatMap(_.fallbackNodeToReason.values)
         assert(fallbackReasons.nonEmpty)
         assert(
-          fallbackReasons.exists(
+          fallbackReasons.forall(
             _.contains("[FallbackByUserOptions] Validation failed on node Sort")))
       } finally {
         spark.sparkContext.removeSparkListener(listener)
diff --git a/gluten-core/src/main/scala/org/apache/gluten/extension/columnar/FallbackTag.scala b/gluten-core/src/main/scala/org/apache/gluten/extension/columnar/FallbackTag.scala
index b18fa519e07a..32020e68bca1 100644
--- a/gluten-core/src/main/scala/org/apache/gluten/extension/columnar/FallbackTag.scala
+++ b/gluten-core/src/main/scala/org/apache/gluten/extension/columnar/FallbackTag.scala
@@ -115,7 +115,21 @@ object FallbackTags {
 
 case class RemoveFallbackTagRule() extends Rule[SparkPlan] {
   override def apply(plan: SparkPlan): SparkPlan = {
-    plan.foreach(FallbackTags.untag)
+    plan.foreach {
+      // Nodes without a logicalLink (e.g. SortExec/BroadcastExchange added by
+      // EnsureRequirements) have no place to forward the fallback reason via
+      // GlutenFallbackReporter. Keep the tag on the physical node so that
+      // GlutenExplainUtils.handleVanillaSparkPlan can still read it directly.
+      // We intentionally do NOT inject a synthetic logicalLink here, because
+      // AdaptiveSparkPlanExec.setLogicalLinkForNewQueryStage relies on these
+      // EnsureRequirements-generated nodes having no logicalLink in order to
+      // walk down to the real logical node; a synthetic link would poison
+      // AQE's stage-to-logical-plan mapping (breaking AQEPropagateEmptyRelation,
+      // ValidateSparkPlan-driven re-plans, etc.).
+      case p if FallbackTags.nonEmpty(p) && p.logicalLink.isEmpty =>
+      case p =>
+        FallbackTags.untag(p)
+    }
     plan
   }
 }