diff --git a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/prompt_templates/factory.py b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/prompt_templates/factory.py
index 1339703ab1f..3b2b129e309 100644
--- a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/prompt_templates/factory.py
+++ b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/prompt_templates/factory.py
@@ -1266,9 +1266,9 @@ def _is_valid_thought_signature(signature: str) -> bool:
     try:
         padding = "=" * (-len(signature) % 4)
         base64.b64decode(signature + padding, validate=True)
-        return True
     except (binascii.Error, ValueError):
         return False
+    return True
 
 
 def get_thought_signature_from_tool(tool: Mapping[str, object]) -> str | None:
diff --git a/tests/unit/llms/vertex_ai/gemini/test_thought_signature_in_tool_call_id.py b/tests/unit/llms/vertex_ai/gemini/test_thought_signature_in_tool_call_id.py
index 1cdfa13073b..f7ebf89bc1d 100644
--- a/tests/unit/llms/vertex_ai/gemini/test_thought_signature_in_tool_call_id.py
+++ b/tests/unit/llms/vertex_ai/gemini/test_thought_signature_in_tool_call_id.py
@@ -322,6 +322,18 @@ def test_is_valid_thought_signature_tolerates_missing_padding():
     assert _is_valid_thought_signature(encoded) is True
 
 
+def test_is_valid_thought_signature_scope_is_syntactic():
+    """The extractor validates the wire encoding, not semantic integrity: a
+    client normalizer that keeps standard base64 characters produces a value
+    that still decodes even though Vertex will reject it as an unauthenticated
+    signature. Callers that need semantic verification have to compare against
+    the provider-issued signature; the ID-embedded fallback can only catch
+    encoding damage. Documented so future readers understand issue #37849's
+    guarantee is bounded."""
+    decodable_but_wrong = base64.b64encode(b"not-the-real-signature").decode("ascii")
+    assert _is_valid_thought_signature(decodable_but_wrong) is True
+
+
 def test_get_thought_signature_drops_client_mangled_id_suffix():
     """When the segment after ``__thought__`` isn't valid base64, the extractor
     must return ``None`` so the caller can either fall back to the dummy