diff --git a/src/lib/snyk-test/common.ts b/src/lib/snyk-test/common.ts
index 50c239c8b0..67db2866f7 100644
--- a/src/lib/snyk-test/common.ts
+++ b/src/lib/snyk-test/common.ts
@@ -204,7 +204,10 @@ export async function printDepGraphError(
   return new Promise((res, rej) => {
     // Normalize the target file path to be relative to root, consistent with printDepGraphJsonl
     const normalisedTargetFile = failedProjectScanError.targetFile
-      ? path.relative(root, failedProjectScanError.targetFile)
+      ? path.relative(
+          root,
+          path.resolve(root, failedProjectScanError.targetFile),
+        )
       : failedProjectScanError.targetFile;
 
     const problemError = getOrCreateErrorCatalogError(failedProjectScanError);
diff --git a/test/jest/unit/lib/snyk-test/common.spec.ts b/test/jest/unit/lib/snyk-test/common.spec.ts
index 07a1d6ad75..de9ebedcd4 100644
--- a/test/jest/unit/lib/snyk-test/common.spec.ts
+++ b/test/jest/unit/lib/snyk-test/common.spec.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
+import { PassThrough } from 'stream';
 import { CLI, ProblemError } from '@snyk/error-catalog-nodejs-public';
 import { CustomError } from '../../../../../src/lib/errors';
 import { FailedProjectScanError } from '../../../../../src/lib/plugins/get-multi-plugin-result';
 import {
   getOrCreateErrorCatalogError,
   getRequestConcurrency,
+  printDepGraphError,
 } from '../../../../../src/lib/snyk-test/common';
 
 describe('getOrCreateErrorCatalogError', () => {
@@ -120,6 +122,66 @@ describe('getOrCreateErrorCatalogError', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('printDepGraphError', () => {
+  function collectStream(stream: PassThrough): Promise<string> {
+    return new Promise((resolve) => {
+      const chunks: Buffer[] = [];
+      stream.on('data', (chunk) => chunks.push(Buffer.from(chunk)));
+      stream.on('end', () => resolve(Buffer.concat(chunks).toString('utf-8')));
+    });
+  }
+
+  it('normalises a relative targetFile to stay relative to root', async () => {
+    const root = '/project';
+    const failedProjectScanError: FailedProjectScanError = {
+      errMessage: 'scan failed',
+      error: undefined,
+      targetFile: 'subdir/package.json',
+    };
+    const output = new PassThrough();
+    const collected = collectStream(output);
+
+    await printDepGraphError(root, failedProjectScanError, output);
+    output.end();
+
+    const result = JSON.parse(await collected);
+    expect(result.normalisedTargetFile).toBe('subdir/package.json');
+  });
+
+  it('normalises an absolute targetFile to be relative to root', async () => {
+    const root = '/project';
+    const failedProjectScanError: FailedProjectScanError = {
+      errMessage: 'scan failed',
+      error: undefined,
+      targetFile: '/project/subdir/package.json',
+    };
+    const output = new PassThrough();
+    const collected = collectStream(output);
+
+    await printDepGraphError(root, failedProjectScanError, output);
+    output.end();
+
+    const result = JSON.parse(await collected);
+    expect(result.normalisedTargetFile).toBe('subdir/package.json');
+  });
+
+  it('keeps targetFile undefined when it is not provided', async () => {
+    const root = '/project';
+    const failedProjectScanError: FailedProjectScanError = {
+      errMessage: 'scan failed',
+      error: undefined,
+    };
+    const output = new PassThrough();
+    const collected = collectStream(output);
+
+    await printDepGraphError(root, failedProjectScanError, output);
+    output.end();
+
+    const result = JSON.parse(await collected);
+    expect(result.normalisedTargetFile).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+});
+
 describe('getRequestConcurrency', () => {
   const originalValue = process.env.SNYK_INTERNAL_REQUEST_CONCURRENCY;