diff --git a/framework/src/utils/MooseMeshUtils.C b/framework/src/utils/MooseMeshUtils.C
index 6db1a9eaa42b..e7f865672da0 100644
--- a/framework/src/utils/MooseMeshUtils.C
+++ b/framework/src/utils/MooseMeshUtils.C
@@ -137,6 +137,12 @@ getBoundaryIDs(const MeshBase & mesh,
     {
       std::istringstream ss(boundary_name[i]);
       ss >> id;
+      if (ss.fail())
+        mooseError("Failed to convert integer ",
+                   boundary_name[i],
+                   " to a boundary id.  Got ",
+                   id,
+                   " instead.  Is the integer too large for boundary_id_type?");
     }
 
     ids[i] = id;
diff --git a/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/gold/polyline_mesh_generator_good_boundary_in.e b/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/gold/polyline_mesh_generator_good_boundary_in.e
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9104684a198d
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/gold/polyline_mesh_generator_good_boundary_in.e differ
diff --git a/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/polyline_mesh_generator_bad_boundary.i b/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/polyline_mesh_generator_bad_boundary.i
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2c4125af0bde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/polyline_mesh_generator_bad_boundary.i
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[Mesh]
+  [poly]
+    type = PolyLineMeshGenerator
+    points = '-1.0 0.0 0.0
+              1.0 1.0 1.0
+              1.0 2.0 3.0'
+    # This should error for 16-bit boundary id configs:
+    start_boundary = 40000
+    # This should error even for 64-bit boundary id configs:
+    end_boundary = 123456789012345678901234567890
+  []
+[]
diff --git a/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/polyline_mesh_generator_good_boundary.i b/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/polyline_mesh_generator_good_boundary.i
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3f2c8b9e9e0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/polyline_mesh_generator_good_boundary.i
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+[Mesh]
+  [poly]
+    type = PolyLineMeshGenerator
+    points = '-1.0 0.0 0.0
+              1.0 1.0 1.0
+              1.0 2.0 3.0'
+    start_boundary = 'non_numbered'
+    end_boundary = 42
+  []
+[]
diff --git a/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/tests b/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/tests
index 623fd9dd442a..7f88d5b5b107 100644
--- a/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/tests
+++ b/test/tests/meshgenerators/polyline_mesh_generator/tests
@@ -37,4 +37,24 @@
       detail = "refining a loop if requested"
     []
   []
+  [polyline_good_boundary]
+    design = 'meshgenerators/PolyLineMeshGenerator.md'
+    type = 'Exodiff'
+    input = 'polyline_mesh_generator_good_boundary.i'
+    issues = '#24950'
+    cli_args = '--mesh-only'
+    exodiff = 'polyline_mesh_generator_good_boundary_in.e'
+    recover = false
+    requirement = "The system shall set a boundary name or id if requested."
+  []
+  [polyline_bad_boundary]
+    design = 'meshgenerators/PolyLineMeshGenerator.md'
+    type = 'RunException'
+    input = 'polyline_mesh_generator_bad_boundary.i'
+    expect_err = "Failed to convert integer"
+    issues = '#24950'
+    cli_args = '--mesh-only'
+    recover = false
+    requirement = "The system shall detect any unsatisfiable boundary id requests."
+  []
 []