diff --git a/commands/imagetools/create.go b/commands/imagetools/create.go
index 70308391150f..ac34c6df1d94 100644
--- a/commands/imagetools/create.go
+++ b/commands/imagetools/create.go
@@ -357,6 +357,9 @@ func parseSource(in string) (*imagetools.Source, error) {
 	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(in), &s.Desc); err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.WithStack(err)
 	}
+	if s.Desc.Digest == "" {
+		return nil, errors.Errorf("descriptor is missing required 'digest' field (source must be a descriptor JSON, not a manifest or manifest list)")
+	}
 	return &s, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/commands/imagetools/create_test.go b/commands/imagetools/create_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8e2e62057e90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/commands/imagetools/create_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+package commands
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+// TestParseSource_manifestRejected is a regression test for
+// https://github.com/docker/buildx/issues/2091: piping `imagetools inspect
+// --raw` (a manifest/manifest-list JSON) into `imagetools create -f` caused a
+// nil-pointer panic because the JSON was accepted as a descriptor but had no
+// 'digest' field, producing a zero-value descriptor that drove the pusher to
+// write 0 bytes and call Commit() on an uninitialised pipe.
+func TestParseSource_manifestRejected(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	cases := []struct{ name, in string }{
+		{
+			"docker manifest list",
+			`{"schemaVersion":2,"mediaType":"application/vnd.docker.distribution.manifest.list.v2+json","manifests":[]}`,
+		},
+		{
+			"oci image index",
+			`{"schemaVersion":2,"mediaType":"application/vnd.oci.image.index.v1+json","manifests":[]}`,
+		},
+		{
+			"descriptor missing digest",
+			`{"mediaType":"application/vnd.oci.image.index.v1+json","size":256}`,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+			_, err := parseSource(tc.in)
+			require.Error(t, err)
+			assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "descriptor is missing required 'digest' field")
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestParseSource_validInputs(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	// plain digest
+	src, err := parseSource("sha256:e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "sha256:e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855", src.Desc.Digest.String())
+
+	// registry reference
+	src, err = parseSource("registry.example.com/myimage:latest")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.NotNil(t, src.Ref)
+	assert.Equal(t, "registry.example.com/myimage:latest", src.Ref.String())
+
+	// descriptor JSON
+	src, err = parseSource(`{"mediaType":"application/vnd.oci.image.index.v1+json","digest":"sha256:e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855","size":256}`)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "sha256:e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855", src.Desc.Digest.String())
+}