diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 79616655acf..8c65c25112a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@
   - Drop telemetry and record `callback_error` when a customer event processor throws instead of continuing with a potentially partially processed item. SDK-owned processor failures are logged and processing continues without a `callback_error` client report.
   - Drop breadcrumbs when `beforeBreadcrumb` throws instead of storing exception details on the breadcrumb.
   - When `tracesSampler` throws, drop the transaction and record `callback_error` instead of inheriting the parent sampling decision or falling back to `tracesSampleRate` ([#6163](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/6163))
+  - When `profilesSampler` throws, disable profiling instead of falling back to `profilesSampleRate` or inheriting the parent's profiling decision. Trace sampling is unchanged ([#6164](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/6164))
 - Disable URL caching when reading `META-INF/MANIFEST.MF` files during version detection so that the SDK no longer keeps jar file handles open for the life of the process ([#6124](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/6124)
 - Keep the `EventListener` wrapped by `SentryOkHttpEventListener` per `Call` ([#6003](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/6003))
 
diff --git a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/TracesSampler.java b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/TracesSampler.java
index 729de9bf185..bb6e5d9f11f 100644
--- a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/TracesSampler.java
+++ b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/TracesSampler.java
@@ -26,16 +26,18 @@ public TracesSamplingDecision sample(final @NotNull SamplingContext samplingCont
     }
 
     Double profilesSampleRate = null;
+    boolean profilesSamplerFailed = false;
     if (options.getProfilesSampler() != null) {
       try {
         profilesSampleRate = options.getProfilesSampler().sample(samplingContext);
       } catch (Throwable t) {
+        profilesSamplerFailed = true;
         options
             .getLogger()
             .log(SentryLevel.ERROR, "Error in the 'ProfilesSamplerCallback' callback.", t);
       }
     }
-    if (profilesSampleRate == null) {
+    if (profilesSampleRate == null && !profilesSamplerFailed) {
       profilesSampleRate = options.getProfilesSampleRate();
     }
     Boolean profilesSampled = profilesSampleRate != null && sample(profilesSampleRate, sampleRand);
@@ -69,6 +71,13 @@ public TracesSamplingDecision sample(final @NotNull SamplingContext samplingCont
     final TracesSamplingDecision parentSamplingDecision =
         samplingContext.getTransactionContext().getParentSamplingDecision();
     if (parentSamplingDecision != null) {
+      if (profilesSamplerFailed) {
+        return SampleRateUtils.backfilledSampleRand(
+            new TracesSamplingDecision(
+                parentSamplingDecision.getSampled(),
+                parentSamplingDecision.getSampleRate(),
+                parentSamplingDecision.getSampleRand()));
+      }
       return SampleRateUtils.backfilledSampleRand(parentSamplingDecision);
     }
 
diff --git a/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/TracesSamplerTest.kt b/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/TracesSamplerTest.kt
index 9b3c60cd996..9b8f0666854 100644
--- a/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/TracesSamplerTest.kt
+++ b/sentry/src/test/java/io/sentry/TracesSamplerTest.kt
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ class TracesSamplerTest {
 
   @Test
   fun `when profilesSampler returns null and parentSampled is set sampler uses it as a sampling decision`() {
-    val sampler = fixture.getSut(tracesSampleRate = 1.0, profilesSamplerCallback = null)
+    val sampler = fixture.getSut(tracesSampleRate = 1.0, profilesSamplerCallback = { null })
     val transactionContextParentSampled = TransactionContext("name", "op")
     transactionContextParentSampled.setParentSampled(true, true)
     val samplingDecision =
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ class TracesSamplerTest {
       fixture.getSut(
         tracesSampleRate = 1.0,
         profilesSampleRate = 0.2,
-        profilesSamplerCallback = null,
+        profilesSamplerCallback = { null },
       )
     val samplingDecision =
       sampler.sample(
@@ -358,18 +358,92 @@ class TracesSamplerTest {
   }
 
   @Test
-  fun `when a profilingRate and a ProfilesSamplerCallback is set but the callback throws an exception then profiling should still be enabled`() {
-    val exception = Exception("faulty ProfilesSamplerCallback")
+  fun `when profilesSampler throws then static profile rates are ignored`() {
+    for (profilesSampleRate in listOf(null, 0.0, 1.0)) {
+      val sampler =
+        fixture.getSut(
+          tracesSampleRate = 1.0,
+          profilesSampleRate = profilesSampleRate,
+          profilesSamplerCallback = {
+            throw IllegalStateException("faulty ProfilesSamplerCallback")
+          },
+        )
+      val decision =
+        sampler.sample(SamplingContext(TransactionContext("name", "op"), null, 0.0, null))
+
+      assertThat(decision.sampled).isTrue()
+      assertThat(decision.sampleRate).isEqualTo(1.0)
+      assertThat(decision.sampleRand).isEqualTo(0.0)
+      assertThat(decision.profileSampled).isFalse()
+      assertThat(decision.profileSampleRate).isNull()
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `when profilesSampler throws then tracesSampler still determines trace sampling`() {
     val sampler =
       fixture.getSut(
-        tracesSampleRate = 1.0,
+        tracesSampleRate = 0.0,
         profilesSampleRate = 1.0,
-        profilesSamplerCallback = { throw exception },
+        tracesSamplerCallback = { 0.5 },
+        profilesSamplerCallback = { throw IllegalStateException("faulty ProfilesSamplerCallback") },
       )
     val decision =
-      sampler.sample(SamplingContext(TransactionContext("name", "op"), null, 0.0, null))
-    assertTrue(decision.profileSampled)
-    assertEquals(0.0, decision.sampleRand)
+      sampler.sample(SamplingContext(TransactionContext("name", "op"), null, 0.1, null))
+
+    assertThat(decision.sampled).isTrue()
+    assertThat(decision.sampleRate).isEqualTo(0.5)
+    assertThat(decision.sampleRand).isEqualTo(0.1)
+    assertThat(decision.profileSampled).isFalse()
+    assertThat(decision.profileSampleRate).isNull()
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `when profilesSampler throws then parent trace sampling is preserved without profiling`() {
+    val sampler =
+      fixture.getSut(
+        tracesSampleRate = 1.0,
+        profilesSampleRate = 1.0,
+        profilesSamplerCallback = { throw IllegalStateException("faulty ProfilesSamplerCallback") },
+      )
+    for (sampled in listOf(true, false)) {
+      val sampleRand = if (sampled) 0.1 else 0.9
+      val parentDecision = TracesSamplingDecision(sampled, 0.5, sampleRand, true, 1.0)
+      val transactionContext =
+        TransactionContext(SentryId(), SpanId(), SpanId(), parentDecision, null)
+
+      val decision = sampler.sample(SamplingContext(transactionContext, null, sampleRand, null))
+
+      assertThat(decision.sampled).isEqualTo(sampled)
+      assertThat(decision.sampleRate).isEqualTo(0.5)
+      assertThat(decision.sampleRand).isEqualTo(sampleRand)
+      assertThat(decision.profileSampled).isFalse()
+      assertThat(decision.profileSampleRate).isNull()
+      assertThat(parentDecision.profileSampled).isEqualTo(sampled)
+      assertThat(parentDecision.profileSampleRate).isEqualTo(1.0)
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  fun `when both samplers throw then tracing and profiling are disabled despite a sampled parent`() {
+    val sampler =
+      fixture.getSut(
+        tracesSampleRate = 0.0,
+        profilesSampleRate = 1.0,
+        tracesSamplerCallback = { throw IllegalStateException("faulty TracesSamplerCallback") },
+        profilesSamplerCallback = { throw IllegalStateException("faulty ProfilesSamplerCallback") },
+      )
+    val parentDecision = TracesSamplingDecision(true, 0.5, true, 1.0)
+    val transactionContext =
+      TransactionContext(SentryId(), SpanId(), SpanId(), parentDecision, null)
+
+    val decision = sampler.sample(SamplingContext(transactionContext, null, 0.9, null))
+
+    assertThat(decision.sampled).isFalse()
+    assertThat(decision.sampleRate).isNull()
+    assertThat(decision.sampleRand).isEqualTo(0.9)
+    assertThat(decision.profileSampled).isFalse()
+    assertThat(decision.profileSampleRate).isNull()
   }
 
   @Test