diff --git a/metadata/sandbox.go b/metadata/sandbox.go
index 542a1b3c0..a682693d9 100644
--- a/metadata/sandbox.go
+++ b/metadata/sandbox.go
@@ -239,6 +239,9 @@ func (s *sandboxStore) Delete(ctx context.Context, id string) error {
 		}
 
 		if err := buckets.DeleteBucket([]byte(id)); err != nil {
+			if err == bbolt.ErrBucketNotFound {
+				err = errdefs.ErrNotFound
+			}
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to delete sandbox %q: %w", id, err)
 		}
 
diff --git a/pkg/cri/server/sandbox_remove.go b/pkg/cri/server/sandbox_remove.go
index 4cccd13dc..5e04a7226 100644
--- a/pkg/cri/server/sandbox_remove.go
+++ b/pkg/cri/server/sandbox_remove.go
@@ -105,7 +105,10 @@ func (c *criService) RemovePodSandbox(ctx context.Context, r *runtime.RemovePodS
 	c.sandboxStore.Delete(id)
 
 	if err := c.client.SandboxStore().Delete(ctx, id); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to remove sandbox metadata from store: %w", err)
+		if !errdefs.IsNotFound(err) {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to remove sandbox metadata from store: %w", err)
+		}
+		log.G(ctx).WithError(err).Warnf("failed to delete sandbox metadata from store: %q maybe recovered from v1.x release", id)
 	}
 
 	// Release the sandbox name reserved for the sandbox.