diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 2f476709..884e0fd2 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ livecd-rootfs (2.765) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
 
   * auto/config: preserve germinate-output directory when removing config to
     speed up local iteration.
+  * auto/config: Emit error message to stderr in _sanitize_passes.
 
  -- Michael Hudson-Doyle <michael.hudson@ubuntu.com>  Tue, 24 May 2022 12:42:10 +1200
 
diff --git a/live-build/auto/config b/live-build/auto/config
index 27b8ce10..2cf02e95 100755
--- a/live-build/auto/config
+++ b/live-build/auto/config
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ _sanitize_passes ()
 		# if root pass, no parent to find
 		[ -z "$parent" ] && continue
 		if [ $(echo "$passes"|grep -cE "^$parent\$") -ne 1 ]; then
-			echo "ERROR: '$parent' is required by '$pass' but is missing. Registered passes are:\n$passes"
+			echo "ERROR: '$parent' is required by '$pass' but is missing. Registered passes are:\n$passes" >&2
 			exit 1
 		fi
 	done