diff --git a/packages/b2c-cli/test/functional/e2e/sandbox-lifecycle.test.ts b/packages/b2c-cli/test/functional/e2e/sandbox-lifecycle.test.ts
index 2a5f52e9..1d1f816b 100644
--- a/packages/b2c-cli/test/functional/e2e/sandbox-lifecycle.test.ts
+++ b/packages/b2c-cli/test/functional/e2e/sandbox-lifecycle.test.ts
@@ -439,10 +439,28 @@ describe('Sandbox Lifecycle E2E Tests', function () {
     describe('Realm Management', function () {
       const realmId = process.env.TEST_REALM;
 
-      before(function () {
+      before(async function () {
         if (!realmId) {
           this.skip();
         }
+
+        // Perform a lightweight realm health check so all realm tests can
+        // assume the realm is basically available. If the realm is missing
+        // or misconfigured skip the Realm Management tests
+        const result = await runCLIWithRetry(['sandbox', 'realm', 'get', realmId!, '--json'], {verbose: true});
+
+        if (result.exitCode !== 0) {
+          const errorText = String(result.stderr || result.stdout || '');
+          if (
+            errorText.includes('Realm not found') ||
+            errorText.includes('Failed to fetch configuration for realm') ||
+            errorText.includes('ConnectTimeoutError') ||
+            errorText.includes('CronExpression')
+          ) {
+            console.log('  ⚠ Realm not available or misconfigured; skipping Realm Management tests:', errorText);
+            this.skip();
+          }
+        }
       });
 
       it('should get realm details', async function () {
diff --git a/packages/b2c-cli/test/functional/e2e/test-utils.ts b/packages/b2c-cli/test/functional/e2e/test-utils.ts
index 2bc361c5..1a9c0618 100644
--- a/packages/b2c-cli/test/functional/e2e/test-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/b2c-cli/test/functional/e2e/test-utils.ts
@@ -154,7 +154,13 @@ export async function runCLI(args: string[], options: CLIOptions = {}): Promise<
     cwd,
   });
 
-  return result;
+  const normalizedExitCode =
+    typeof result.exitCode === 'number' ? result.exitCode : ((result as any).code ?? (result as any).status ?? 1);
+
+  return {
+    ...result,
+    exitCode: normalizedExitCode,
+  };
 }
 
 /**