diff --git a/compose/field_mapping.go b/compose/field_mapping.go
index aaf8de7bb..5c7069ba0 100644
--- a/compose/field_mapping.go
+++ b/compose/field_mapping.go
@@ -636,7 +636,10 @@ func validateStructOrMap(t reflect.Type) bool {
 		t = t.Elem()
 		fallthrough
 	case reflect.Struct:
-		return true
+		// After dereferencing a pointer, the underlying type must still be
+		// a struct or a map (e.g. *map[string]any is acceptable, but *int is
+		// not, since it has no fields to map).
+		return t.Kind() == reflect.Struct || t.Kind() == reflect.Map
 	default:
 		return false
 	}
diff --git a/compose/field_mapping_test.go b/compose/field_mapping_test.go
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..78a4dee1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compose/field_mapping_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2026 CloudWeGo Authors
+ *
+ * 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 compose
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestValidateStructOrMap(t *testing.T) {
+	type S struct {
+		A int
+	}
+	type M map[string]any
+
+	tests := []struct {
+		name string
+		typ  reflect.Type
+		want bool
+	}{
+		{"struct", reflect.TypeOf(S{}), true},
+		{"map", reflect.TypeOf(M{}), true},
+		{"ptr_to_struct", reflect.TypeOf(&S{}), true},
+		{"ptr_to_map", reflect.TypeOf(&M{}), true},
+		{"ptr_to_scalar", reflect.TypeOf((*int)(nil)), false},
+		{"scalar", reflect.TypeOf(0), false},
+		{"ptr_to_string", reflect.TypeOf((*string)(nil)), false},
+		{"slice", reflect.TypeOf([]int{}), false},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			if got := validateStructOrMap(tt.typ); got != tt.want {
+				t.Errorf("validateStructOrMap(%v) = %v, want %v", tt.typ, got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}