diff --git a/src/integTest/groovy/nebula/plugin/release/ReleasePluginIntegrationSpec.groovy b/src/integTest/groovy/nebula/plugin/release/ReleasePluginIntegrationSpec.groovy
index 03092f0..2be1098 100644
--- a/src/integTest/groovy/nebula/plugin/release/ReleasePluginIntegrationSpec.groovy
+++ b/src/integTest/groovy/nebula/plugin/release/ReleasePluginIntegrationSpec.groovy
@@ -1183,6 +1183,63 @@ class ReleasePluginIntegrationSpec extends GitVersioningIntegrationSpec {
         result.standardError.contains('Nebula Release plugin does not support branches that end with dash (-)')
     }
 
+    @Unroll
+    def 'useLastTag errors out if version has invalid number of digits - #version'() {
+        git.tag.add(name: "v$version")
+
+        when:
+        def result = runTasksWithFailure('final', '-Prelease.useLastTag=true')
+
+        then:
+        result.standardError.contains "Current commit has following tags: [v${version}] but they were not recognized as valid versions"
+        !new File(projectDir, "build/libs/${moduleName}-${version}.jar").exists()
+
+        where:
+        version << [
+                '42.5.3.5',
+                '42.5.3.5.3',
+                '42.5.3.1-rc.1',
+                '42.5.3.1.4-rc.1',
+        ]
+    }
+
+    @Unroll
+    def 'release with the override of version calculation errors out if version has invalid number of digits - #version'() {
+        when:
+        def result = runTasksWithFailure('final', "-Prelease.version=${version}")
+
+        then:
+        result.standardError.contains "Supplied release.version ($version) is not valid per semver spec. For more information, please refer to https://semver.org/"
+        !new File(projectDir, "build/libs/${moduleName}-${version}.jar").exists()
+        !originGit.tag.list()*.name.contains("v${version}")
+
+        where:
+        version << [
+                '42.5.3.5',
+                '42.5.3.5.3',
+                '42.5.3.1-rc.1',
+                '42.5.3.1.4-rc.1',
+        ]
+    }
+
+    @Unroll
+    def 'release with the override of version calculation does not errors out if version has invalid number of digits but verification is off - #version'() {
+        when:
+        def result = runTasksSuccessfully('final', "-Prelease.version=${version}", "-Prelease.ignoreSuppliedVersionVerification=true")
+
+        then:
+        !result.standardError.contains("Supplied release.version ($version) is not valid per semver spec. For more information, please refer to https://semver.org/")
+        new File(projectDir, "build/libs/${moduleName}-${version}.jar").exists()
+
+        where:
+        version << [
+                '42.5.3.5',
+                '42.5.3.5.3',
+                '42.5.3.1-rc.1',
+                '42.5.3.1.4-rc.1',
+        ]
+    }
+
     private void replaceDevWithImmutableSnapshot() {
         new File(buildFile.parentFile, "gradle.properties").text = """
 nebula.release.features.replaceDevWithImmutableSnapshot=true
diff --git a/src/main/groovy/nebula/plugin/release/OverrideStrategies.groovy b/src/main/groovy/nebula/plugin/release/OverrideStrategies.groovy
index 305742f..b9f7891 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/nebula/plugin/release/OverrideStrategies.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/nebula/plugin/release/OverrideStrategies.groovy
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  */
 package nebula.plugin.release
 
+import com.github.zafarkhaja.semver.UnexpectedCharacterException
 import com.github.zafarkhaja.semver.Version
 import nebula.plugin.release.git.base.ReleasePluginExtension
 import nebula.plugin.release.git.base.ReleaseVersion
@@ -119,6 +120,8 @@ class OverrideStrategies {
 
     static class GradlePropertyStrategy implements VersionStrategy {
         static final String PROPERTY_NAME = 'release.version'
+        static final String VERSION_VERIFICATION_PROPERTY_NAME = 'release.ignoreSuppliedVersionVerification'
+
         Project project
         String propertyName
 
@@ -148,9 +151,26 @@ class OverrideStrategies {
                 requestedVersion = VersionSanitizerUtil.sanitize(requestedVersion.toString())
             }
 
+            boolean isValidVersion = validateRequestedVersion(requestedVersion)
+            if(!isValidVersion) {
+                throw new GradleException("Supplied release.version ($requestedVersion) is not valid per semver spec. For more information, please refer to https://semver.org/")
+            }
+
             new ReleaseVersion(requestedVersion, null, true)
         }
 
+        private boolean validateRequestedVersion(String version) {
+            if(project.hasProperty(VERSION_VERIFICATION_PROPERTY_NAME)) {
+                return true
+            }
+
+            try {
+                Version.valueOf(version[0] == 'v' ? version[1..-1] : version)
+                return true
+            } catch(UnexpectedCharacterException e) {
+                return false
+            }
+        }
 
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/groovy/nebula/plugin/release/OverrideStrategiesSpec.groovy b/src/test/groovy/nebula/plugin/release/OverrideStrategiesSpec.groovy
index 92d0243..a4cdf6b 100644
--- a/src/test/groovy/nebula/plugin/release/OverrideStrategiesSpec.groovy
+++ b/src/test/groovy/nebula/plugin/release/OverrideStrategiesSpec.groovy
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class OverrideStrategiesSpec extends ProjectSpec {
 
     def 'able to set via gradle property and sanitize'() {
         setup:
-        project.ext.set('release.version', '42.5.0+feature')
+        project.ext.set('release.version', '42.5.0-rc.1+feature')
         project.ext.set('release.sanitizeVersion', true)
 
         when:
@@ -48,6 +48,6 @@ class OverrideStrategiesSpec extends ProjectSpec {
         }
 
         then:
-        project.version.toString() == '42.5.0.feature'
+        project.version.toString() == '42.5.0-rc.1.feature'
     }
 }
diff --git a/stale_outputs_checked b/stale_outputs_checked
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29