diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/250-kro-cat b/changelogs/unreleased/250-kro-cat
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7836c3c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/250-kro-cat
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+Drop the STDERR stream contents from output to avoid JSON mangling.
+
+The vgs command may print non-critical warnings to STDERR. Warnings may not
+necessarily result in a failure return code, which allows the program to
+continue with marshalling the JSON-formatted output. Combining this stream with
+STDIN will cause the next step at decodeVgsJSON() to fail due to garbage mixed
+in the JSON.
+
diff --git a/ci/ci-test.sh b/ci/ci-test.sh
index 0d3438a1..7504f873 100755
--- a/ci/ci-test.sh
+++ b/ci/ci-test.sh
@@ -16,29 +16,91 @@
 
 set -e
 
+LVM_OPERATOR="$(realpath deploy/lvm-operator.yaml)"
+SNAP_CLASS="$(realpath deploy/sample/lvmsnapclass.yaml)"
+
+export LVM_NAMESPACE="openebs"
+export TEST_DIR="tests"
+export NAMESPACE="kube-system"
+
+# allow override
+if [ -z "${KUBECONFIG}" ]
+then
+  export KUBECONFIG="${HOME}/.kube/config"
+fi
+
+# systemid for the testing environment. The kubernetes host machine will serve as the foreign lvm system.
+LVM_SYSTEMID="openebs-ci-test-system"
+LVM_CONFIG="global{system_id_source=lvmlocal}local{system_id=${LVM_SYSTEMID}}"
+
+# Clean up generated resources for successive tests.
+cleanup_loopdev() {
+  sudo losetup -l | grep '(deleted)' | awk '{print $1}' \
+    | while IFS= read -r disk
+      do
+        sudo losetup -d "${disk}"
+      done
+}
+
+cleanup_lvmvg() {
+  if [ -f /tmp/openebs_ci_disk.img ]
+  then
+    sudo vgremove lvmvg -y || true
+    rm /tmp/openebs_ci_disk.img
+  fi
+  cleanup_loopdev
+}
+
+cleanup_foreign_lvmvg() {
+  if [ -f /tmp/openebs_ci_foreign_disk.img ]
+  then
+    sudo vgremove foreign_lvmvg --config="${LVM_CONFIG}" -y || true
+    rm /tmp/openebs_ci_foreign_disk.img
+  fi
+  cleanup_loopdev
+}
+
+cleanup() {
+  set +e
+
+  echo "Cleaning up test resources"
+
+  cleanup_lvmvg
+  cleanup_foreign_lvmvg
+
+  kubectl delete pvc -n openebs lvmpv-pvc
+  kubectl delete -f "${SNAP_CLASS}"
+  kubectl delete -f "${LVM_OPERATOR}"
+
+  # always return true
+  return 0
+}
+# trap "cleanup 2>/dev/null" EXIT
+[ -n "${CLEANUP_ONLY}" ] && cleanup 2>/dev/null && exit 0
+[ -n "${RESET}" ] && cleanup 2>/dev/null
+
 # setup the lvm volume group to create the volume
-truncate -s 1024G /tmp/disk.img
-disk=`sudo losetup -f /tmp/disk.img --show`
-sudo pvcreate "$disk"
-sudo vgcreate lvmvg "$disk"
+cleanup_lvmvg
+truncate -s 1024G /tmp/openebs_ci_disk.img
+disk="$(sudo losetup -f /tmp/openebs_ci_disk.img --show)"
+sudo pvcreate "${disk}"
+sudo vgcreate lvmvg "${disk}"
+
+# setup a foreign lvm to test
+cleanup_foreign_lvmvg
+truncate -s 1024G /tmp/openebs_ci_foreign_disk.img
+foreign_disk="$(sudo losetup -f /tmp/openebs_ci_foreign_disk.img --show)"
+sudo pvcreate "${foreign_disk}"
+sudo vgcreate foreign_lvmvg "${foreign_disk}" --systemid="${LVM_SYSTEMID}"
 
 # install snapshot and thin volume module for lvm
 sudo modprobe dm-snapshot
 sudo modprobe dm_thin_pool
 
-
-LVM_OPERATOR=deploy/lvm-operator.yaml
-SNAP_CLASS=deploy/sample/lvmsnapclass.yaml
-
-export LVM_NAMESPACE="openebs"
-export TEST_DIR="tests"
-export NAMESPACE="kube-system"
-export KUBECONFIG=$HOME/.kube/config
-
 # Prepare env for running BDD tests
 # Minikube is already running
-kubectl apply -f $LVM_OPERATOR
-kubectl apply -f $SNAP_CLASS
+kubectl apply -f "${LVM_OPERATOR}"
+kubectl apply -f "${SNAP_CLASS}"
 
 dumpAgentLogs() {
   NR=$1
@@ -99,9 +161,7 @@ set +e
 
 echo "running ginkgo test case"
 
-ginkgo -v
-
-if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+if ! ginkgo -v ; then
 
 sudo pvscan --cache
 
@@ -135,3 +195,6 @@ exit 1
 fi
 
 printf "\n\n######### All test cases passed #########\n\n"
+
+# last statement formatted to always return true
+[ -z "${CLEANUP}" ] || cleanup 2>/dev/null
diff --git a/pkg/lvm/lvm_util.go b/pkg/lvm/lvm_util.go
index 0bb48770..109f06ad 100644
--- a/pkg/lvm/lvm_util.go
+++ b/pkg/lvm/lvm_util.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ limitations under the License.
 package lvm
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
@@ -550,6 +551,7 @@ func decodeVgsJSON(raw []byte) ([]apis.VolumeGroup, error) {
 	}{}
 	var err error
 	if err = json.Unmarshal(raw, output); err != nil {
+		klog.Errorf("json: failed to unmarshal:\n%s", raw)
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
@@ -646,6 +648,27 @@ func ReloadLVMMetadataCache() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// RunCommandSplit is a wrapper function to run a command and receive its
+// STDERR and STDOUT streams in separate []byte vars.
+func RunCommandSplit(command string, args ...string) ([]byte, []byte, error) {
+	var cmdStdout bytes.Buffer
+	var cmdStderr bytes.Buffer
+
+	cmd := exec.Command(command, args...)
+	cmd.Stdout = &cmdStdout
+	cmd.Stderr = &cmdStderr
+	err := cmd.Run()
+
+	output := cmdStdout.Bytes()
+	error_output := cmdStderr.Bytes()
+
+	if len(error_output) > 0 {
+		klog.Warningf("lvm: said into stderr: %s", error_output)
+	}
+
+	return output, error_output, err
+}
+
 // ListLVMVolumeGroup invokes `vgs` to list all the available volume
 // groups in the node.
 //
@@ -662,12 +685,12 @@ func ListLVMVolumeGroup(reloadCache bool) ([]apis.VolumeGroup, error) {
 		"--reportformat", "json",
 		"--units", "b",
 	}
-	cmd := exec.Command(VGList, args...)
-	output, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+	output, _, err := RunCommandSplit(VGList, args...)
 	if err != nil {
 		klog.Errorf("lvm: list volume group cmd %v: %v", args, err)
 		return nil, err
 	}
+
 	return decodeVgsJSON(output)
 }