diff --git a/scripts/hardening_manifest_yaml/generate.py b/scripts/hardening_manifest_yaml/generate.py
index 8baa429e0f395bc444c088099d93f1c9395626d2..43256fc8b92c7678ee2468015b294fb4f92e98dd 100644
--- a/scripts/hardening_manifest_yaml/generate.py
+++ b/scripts/hardening_manifest_yaml/generate.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ def _fetch_file(url, file, branch="development"):
     Grabs a raw file from gitlab.
 
     """
+    assert "/" not in branch
     url = f"{url}/-/raw/{branch}/{file}"
 
     logger.debug(url)
diff --git a/stages/check-cves/pipeline_wl_compare.py b/stages/check-cves/pipeline_wl_compare.py
index bfa2e8680e5f30f100a0eb3df251945930956294..1835ae5486006cbe098f593ad9b960267ae03ed7 100644
--- a/stages/check-cves/pipeline_wl_compare.py
+++ b/stages/check-cves/pipeline_wl_compare.py
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ from scanners import anchore
 from scanners import twistlock
 import swagger_to_jsonschema
 
+# add global var for api failures.
+# TODO: Remove api_exit_code when converting to using the api instead of the query
+api_exit_code = 0
+
 
 def _connect_to_db():
     """
@@ -139,7 +143,8 @@ def _pipeline_whitelist_compare(image_name, hardening_manifest, lint=False):
             whitelist_branch=wl_branch,
             hardening_manifest=hardening_manifest,
         )
-        sys.exit(0)
+        logging.info(api_exit_code)
+        sys.exit(api_exit_code)
 
     artifacts_path = os.environ["ARTIFACT_STORAGE"]
 
@@ -310,11 +315,15 @@ def _get_greylist_file_contents(image_path, branch):
 
 def _vat_findings_query(im_name, im_version):
     logging.info("Running query to vat api")
-    url = f"{os.environ['VAT_BACKEND_SERVER_ADDRESS']}/internal/container?name={im_name}&tag={im_version}"
-    logging.info(f"GET {url}")
 
     try:
-        r = requests.get(url)
+        r = requests.get(
+            f"{os.environ['VAT_BACKEND_SERVER_ADDRESS']}/internal/container",
+            params={
+                "name": im_name,
+                "tag": im_version,
+            },
+        )
     except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
         logging.warning(f"Could not access VAT API: {url}")
         logging.warning(e)
@@ -353,7 +362,8 @@ def _vat_findings_query(im_name, im_version):
         logging.warning(f"Unknown response from VAT {r.status_code}")
         logging.warning(r.text)
         logging.error("Failing the pipeline, please contact the administrators")
-        sys.exit(1)
+        global api_exit_code
+        api_exit_code = 3
 
 
 def _vat_approval_query(im_name, im_version):
@@ -390,6 +400,7 @@ def _vat_approval_query(im_name, im_version):
         result = cursor.fetchall()
     except Error as error:
         logging.info(error)
+        sys.exit(1)
     finally:
         if conn is not None and conn.is_connected():
             conn.close()
@@ -437,6 +448,7 @@ def _vat_vuln_query(im_name, im_version):
         result = cursor.fetchall()
     except Error as error:
         logging.info(error)
+        sys.exit(1)
     finally:
         if conn is not None and conn.is_connected():
             conn.close()
diff --git a/stages/csv-output/pipeline_csv_gen.py b/stages/csv-output/pipeline_csv_gen.py
index a61a38e2ce796711e937c6d5766314d9a2cff9f7..836d6e3f1432da9d3359c23785253745089639c9 100644
--- a/stages/csv-output/pipeline_csv_gen.py
+++ b/stages/csv-output/pipeline_csv_gen.py
@@ -346,6 +346,7 @@ def _vat_vuln_query(im_name, im_version):
         result = cursor.fetchall()
     except Error as error:
         logging.info(error)
+        sys.exit(1)
     finally:
         if conn is not None and conn.is_connected():
             conn.close()
diff --git a/stages/lint/base.yaml b/stages/lint/base.yaml
index 019930113e708974dce8e4ea0beadb9df62e44e1..b4846cab7eeb6e456b26be38a36a170e066ad87c 100644
--- a/stages/lint/base.yaml
+++ b/stages/lint/base.yaml
@@ -62,7 +62,10 @@ wl compare lint:
     - export PROJ_PATH
     - pip3 install jsonschema
     - 'mkdir -p "${ARTIFACT_DIR}"'
+    - set +e
     - 'python3 "${PIPELINE_REPO_DIR}/stages/check-cves/pipeline_wl_compare.py" --lint'
+  allow_failure:
+    exit_codes: 3
   artifacts:
     paths:
       - "${ARTIFACT_DIR}/"