diff --git a/pkg/auth/user/UserService.go b/pkg/auth/user/UserService.go
index 21320edd23..a7724ecc69 100644
--- a/pkg/auth/user/UserService.go
+++ b/pkg/auth/user/UserService.go
@@ -1480,6 +1480,15 @@ func (impl *UserServiceImpl) BulkDeleteUsers(request *userBean.BulkDeleteRequest
 
 // getUserIdsHonoringFilters get the filtered user ids according to the request filters and returns userIds and error(not nil) if any exception is caught.
 func (impl *UserServiceImpl) getUserIdsHonoringFilters(request *userBean.ListingRequest) ([]int32, error) {
+	// a filter based bulk delete must always be scoped by at least one concrete filter; an empty/default
+	// filter must never be allowed to silently widen into "delete every user" (no filter => no filter based bulk delete).
+	if len(strings.TrimSpace(request.SearchKey)) == 0 && !isStatusFilterApplied(request) {
+		return nil, &util.ApiError{Code: "400", HttpStatusCode: http.StatusBadRequest, UserMessage: "at least one filter criteria (searchKey or status) is required for a filter based bulk delete"}
+	}
+	// applying the same normalization the listing path (GetAllWithFilters) applies before resolving the
+	// query, so that filter resolution for delete matches filter resolution for listing exactly.
+	impl.userCommonService.SetDefaultValuesIfNotPresent(request, false)
+	setStatusFilterType(request)
 	//query to get particular models respecting filters
 	query, queryParams := helper.GetQueryForUserListingWithFilters(request)
 	models, err := impl.userRepository.GetAllExecutingQuery(query, queryParams)
diff --git a/pkg/auth/user/UserService_bulkdelete_filter_test.go b/pkg/auth/user/UserService_bulkdelete_filter_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..85aecd4654
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/auth/user/UserService_bulkdelete_filter_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2024. Devtron Inc.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package user
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/devtron-labs/devtron/pkg/auth/user/bean"
+	"github.com/devtron-labs/devtron/pkg/auth/user/repository"
+	"github.com/devtron-labs/devtron/pkg/auth/user/repository/helper"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+// fakeUserRepoForFilterTest is a minimal repository.UserRepository fake that only answers
+// GetAllExecutingQuery - the single repository call getUserIdsHonoringFilters makes. Every other
+// method is left to panic on the embedded nil interface, since these tests never expect them to run.
+type fakeUserRepoForFilterTest struct {
+	repository.UserRepository
+	called      bool
+	gotQuery    string
+	gotParams   []interface{}
+	modelsToRet []repository.UserModel
+}
+
+func (f *fakeUserRepoForFilterTest) GetAllExecutingQuery(query string, queryParams []interface{}) ([]repository.UserModel, error) {
+	f.called = true
+	f.gotQuery = query
+	f.gotParams = queryParams
+	return f.modelsToRet, nil
+}
+
+func newTestUserServiceForFilterTest(repo *fakeUserRepoForFilterTest) *UserServiceImpl {
+	return &UserServiceImpl{
+		userRepository:    repo,
+		userCommonService: &UserCommonServiceImpl{},
+	}
+}
+
+// TestGetUserIdsHonoringFilters_RejectsUnscopedFilter is a regression test for the production incident
+// where `DELETE /orchestrator/user/bulk` with body {"listingRequest":{"searchKey":"","status":["inactive"]}}
+// (an empty search key, intended to be narrowed down by status) deleted every active user on the platform
+// instead of only the intended inactive ones. The delete path resolved the filter directly through the
+// query builder without the normalization/bound the listing endpoint applies, so an effectively empty
+// filter silently widened into "every user". With the fix, a listingRequest carrying no concrete filter
+// (status isn't a filterable field in this OSS build) is rejected outright instead of being resolved at all.
+func TestGetUserIdsHonoringFilters_RejectsUnscopedFilter(t *testing.T) {
+	repo := &fakeUserRepoForFilterTest{}
+	impl := newTestUserServiceForFilterTest(repo)
+
+	// mirrors the exact incident payload once decoded: SearchKey is empty and there is no other
+	// concrete filter field available on this build's ListingRequest.
+	request := &bean.ListingRequest{SearchKey: ""}
+
+	ids, err := impl.getUserIdsHonoringFilters(request)
+
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+	assert.Nil(t, ids)
+	assert.False(t, repo.called, "no query should ever be executed for an unscoped filter based bulk delete")
+}
+
+// TestGetUserIdsHonoringFilters_MatchesListingQuery asserts that once a concrete filter is supplied, the
+// query getUserIdsHonoringFilters resolves is identical - query text and params - to the query the listing
+// endpoint (GetAllWithFilters) would build for the exact same input. This is the core of the fix: delete-side
+// filter resolution can no longer diverge from listing-side filter resolution (e.g. via a missing default
+// page size), so the delete path's resolved id set only ever contains records actually matching the filter.
+func TestGetUserIdsHonoringFilters_MatchesListingQuery(t *testing.T) {
+	matchingUser := repository.UserModel{Id: 42, EmailId: "inactive-user@example.com"}
+	repo := &fakeUserRepoForFilterTest{modelsToRet: []repository.UserModel{matchingUser}}
+	impl := newTestUserServiceForFilterTest(repo)
+
+	deleteRequest := &bean.ListingRequest{SearchKey: "inactive-user"}
+	ids, err := impl.getUserIdsHonoringFilters(deleteRequest)
+	assert.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, []int32{42}, ids)
+	assert.True(t, repo.called)
+
+	// Build the query the listing endpoint would run for the exact same input, applying the exact
+	// same normalization GetAllWithFilters applies before calling the shared query builder.
+	listingRequest := &bean.ListingRequest{SearchKey: "inactive-user"}
+	(&UserCommonServiceImpl{}).SetDefaultValuesIfNotPresent(listingRequest, false)
+	setStatusFilterType(listingRequest)
+	listingQuery, listingParams := helper.GetQueryForUserListingWithFilters(listingRequest)
+
+	assert.Equal(t, listingQuery, repo.gotQuery, "delete path query must match listing path query for the same filter")
+	assert.Equal(t, listingParams, repo.gotParams, "delete path query params must match listing path query params for the same filter")
+}
diff --git a/pkg/auth/user/UserService_ent.go b/pkg/auth/user/UserService_ent.go
index f576f49da3..ab1dc4e6b8 100644
--- a/pkg/auth/user/UserService_ent.go
+++ b/pkg/auth/user/UserService_ent.go
@@ -119,6 +119,13 @@ func setStatusFilterType(request *userBean.ListingRequest) {
 	return
 }
 
+// isStatusFilterApplied reports whether the request carries a concrete status filter.
+// the OSS ListingRequest has no status filtering concept, so this is always false here;
+// an enterprise build that adds status filtering should override this accordingly.
+func isStatusFilterApplied(request *userBean.ListingRequest) bool {
+	return false
+}
+
 func setCurrentTimeInUserInfo(request *userBean.ListingRequest) {
 	return
 }