diff --git a/ui/src/ui/views/dreaming.test.ts b/ui/src/ui/views/dreaming.test.ts
index 3e75fb033da..385a367812a 100644
--- a/ui/src/ui/views/dreaming.test.ts
+++ b/ui/src/ui/views/dreaming.test.ts
@@ -409,5 +409,68 @@ describe("dreaming view", () => {
     setDreamSubTab("scene");
   });
 
+  it("treats malformed waiting-entry timestamps as oldest in both sort modes", () => {
+    setDreamSubTab("advanced");
+    const shortTermEntries = [
+      {
+        key: "memory:valid-recent",
+        path: "memory/2026-04-06.md",
+        startLine: 1,
+        endLine: 1,
+        snippet: "Valid recent timestamp",
+        recallCount: 1,
+        dailyCount: 0,
+        groundedCount: 0,
+        totalSignalCount: 3,
+        lightHits: 1,
+        remHits: 0,
+        phaseHitCount: 1,
+        lastRecalledAt: "2026-04-06T12:00:00.000Z",
+      },
+      {
+        key: "memory:malformed-time",
+        path: "memory/2026-04-05.md",
+        startLine: 1,
+        endLine: 1,
+        snippet: "Malformed timestamp",
+        recallCount: 1,
+        dailyCount: 0,
+        groundedCount: 0,
+        totalSignalCount: 3,
+        lightHits: 1,
+        remHits: 0,
+        phaseHitCount: 1,
+        lastRecalledAt: "not-a-timestamp",
+      },
+    ];
+
+    setDreamAdvancedWaitingSort("recent");
+    let container = renderInto(
+      buildProps({
+        shortTermEntries,
+        promotedEntries: [],
+      }),
+    );
+    const recentOrder = [...container.querySelectorAll("[data-entry-key]")].map((node) =>
+      node.getAttribute("data-entry-key"),
+    );
+    expect(recentOrder).toEqual(["memory:valid-recent", "memory:malformed-time"]);
+
+    setDreamAdvancedWaitingSort("signals");
+    container = renderInto(
+      buildProps({
+        shortTermEntries,
+        promotedEntries: [],
+      }),
+    );
+    const signalOrder = [...container.querySelectorAll("[data-entry-key]")].map((node) =>
+      node.getAttribute("data-entry-key"),
+    );
+    expect(signalOrder).toEqual(["memory:valid-recent", "memory:malformed-time"]);
+
+    setDreamAdvancedWaitingSort("recent");
+    setDreamSubTab("scene");
+  });
+
   // Toggle lives in the page header (app-render.ts), not inside the dreaming view.
 });
diff --git a/ui/src/ui/views/dreaming.ts b/ui/src/ui/views/dreaming.ts
index 1cda9f91ca2..b92a1cd2f94 100644
--- a/ui/src/ui/views/dreaming.ts
+++ b/ui/src/ui/views/dreaming.ts
@@ -430,13 +430,19 @@ function formatCompactDateTime(value: string): string {
   });
 }
 
+function parseSortableTimestamp(value?: string): number {
+  if (!value) {
+    return Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
+  }
+  const parsed = Date.parse(value);
+  return Number.isFinite(parsed) ? parsed : Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
+}
+
 function compareWaitingEntryByRecency(a: DreamingEntry, b: DreamingEntry): number {
-  const aMs = a.lastRecalledAt ? Date.parse(a.lastRecalledAt) : Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
-  const bMs = b.lastRecalledAt ? Date.parse(b.lastRecalledAt) : Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY;
-  if (Number.isFinite(aMs) || Number.isFinite(bMs)) {
-    if (bMs !== aMs) {
-      return bMs - aMs;
-    }
+  const aMs = parseSortableTimestamp(a.lastRecalledAt);
+  const bMs = parseSortableTimestamp(b.lastRecalledAt);
+  if (bMs !== aMs) {
+    return bMs - aMs;
   }
   if (b.totalSignalCount !== a.totalSignalCount) {
     return b.totalSignalCount - a.totalSignalCount;