diff --git a/src/rpc/mempool.cpp b/src/rpc/mempool.cpp
index 27a00c5d917..9a6a8d87756 100644
--- a/src/rpc/mempool.cpp
+++ b/src/rpc/mempool.cpp
@@ -891,7 +891,7 @@ static RPCHelpMan getorphantxs()
 
             UniValue ret(UniValue::VARR);
 
-            if (verbosity <= 0) {
+            if (verbosity == 0) {
                 for (auto const& orphan : orphanage) {
                     ret.push_back(orphan.tx->GetHash().ToString());
                 }
@@ -899,13 +899,14 @@ static RPCHelpMan getorphantxs()
                 for (auto const& orphan : orphanage) {
                     ret.push_back(OrphanToJSON(orphan));
                 }
-            } else {
-                // >= 2
+            } else if (verbosity == 2) {
                 for (auto const& orphan : orphanage) {
                     UniValue o{OrphanToJSON(orphan)};
                     o.pushKV("hex", EncodeHexTx(*orphan.tx));
                     ret.push_back(o);
                 }
+            } else {
+                throw JSONRPCError(RPC_INVALID_PARAMETER, "Invalid verbosity value " + ToString(verbosity));
             }
 
             return ret;
diff --git a/test/functional/rpc_getorphantxs.py b/test/functional/rpc_getorphantxs.py
index dfa1168b2ec..1e08f15065f 100755
--- a/test/functional/rpc_getorphantxs.py
+++ b/test/functional/rpc_getorphantxs.py
@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@
 from test_framework.mempool_util import tx_in_orphanage
 from test_framework.messages import msg_tx
 from test_framework.p2p import P2PInterface
-from test_framework.util import assert_equal
+from test_framework.util import (
+    assert_equal,
+    assert_raises_rpc_error,
+)
 from test_framework.test_framework import BitcoinTestFramework
 from test_framework.wallet import MiniWallet
 
@@ -37,13 +40,13 @@ class GetOrphanTxsTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
         self.log.info("Check that neither parent is in the mempool")
         assert_equal(node.getmempoolinfo()["size"], 0)
 
-        self.log.info("Check that both children are in the orphanage")
-
         orphanage = node.getorphantxs(verbosity=0)
         self.log.info("Check the size of the orphanage")
         assert_equal(len(orphanage), 2)
-        self.log.info("Check that negative verbosity is treated as 0")
-        assert_equal(orphanage, node.getorphantxs(verbosity=-1))
+        self.log.info("Check that undefined verbosity is disallowed")
+        assert_raises_rpc_error(-8, "Invalid verbosity value -1", node.getorphantxs, verbosity=-1)
+        assert_raises_rpc_error(-8, "Invalid verbosity value 3", node.getorphantxs, verbosity=3)
+        self.log.info("Check that both children are in the orphanage")
         assert tx_in_orphanage(node, tx_child_1["tx"])
         assert tx_in_orphanage(node, tx_child_2["tx"])