diff --git a/hawkbit-mgmt/hawkbit-mgmt-resource/src/test/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/mgmt/rest/resource/MgmtTargetGroupResourceTest.java b/hawkbit-mgmt/hawkbit-mgmt-resource/src/test/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/mgmt/rest/resource/MgmtTargetGroupResourceTest.java
index f53ef26e6..b510e4161 100644
--- a/hawkbit-mgmt/hawkbit-mgmt-resource/src/test/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/mgmt/rest/resource/MgmtTargetGroupResourceTest.java
+++ b/hawkbit-mgmt/hawkbit-mgmt-resource/src/test/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/mgmt/rest/resource/MgmtTargetGroupResourceTest.java
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ import java.util.List;
 
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.mgmt.rest.api.MgmtRestConstants;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.mgmt.rest.api.MgmtTargetGroupRestApi;
+import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.TargetTagManagement;
+import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.model.TargetTag;
 import org.hamcrest.Matchers;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
@@ -229,4 +231,30 @@ public class MgmtTargetGroupResourceTest extends AbstractManagementApiIntegratio
                 .andExpect(jsonPath("content.[1].controllerId", Matchers.equalTo("target2")))
                 .andExpect(jsonPath("content.[2].controllerId", Matchers.equalTo("target3")));
     }
+
+    @Test
+    void shouldAssignGroupToTargetsFilteredByTagNotEqual() throws Exception {
+        targetManagement.create(builder().controllerId("target1").build());
+        targetManagement.create(builder().controllerId("target2").build());
+        targetManagement.create(builder().controllerId("target3").build());
+
+        final TargetTag tag1 = targetTagManagement.create(TargetTagManagement.Create.builder().name("tag1").build());
+        final TargetTag tag2 = targetTagManagement.create(TargetTagManagement.Create.builder().name("tag2").build());
+
+        targetManagement.assignTag(List.of("target1"), tag1.getId());
+        targetManagement.assignTag(List.of("target2"), tag1.getId());
+        targetManagement.assignTag(List.of("target3"), tag2.getId());
+
+        mvc.perform(put(MgmtTargetGroupRestApi.TARGETGROUPS_V1 + "/FilteredGroup")
+                        .contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
+                        .param("q", "tag!=tag1"))
+                .andExpect(status().isNoContent());
+
+        mvc.perform(get(MgmtTargetGroupRestApi.TARGETGROUPS_V1 + "/FilteredGroup/assigned")
+                        .param(MgmtRestConstants.REQUEST_PARAMETER_SORTING, "ID:ASC")
+                        .contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON))
+                .andExpect(status().isOk())
+                .andExpect(jsonPath("content", Matchers.hasSize(1)))
+                .andExpect(jsonPath("content.[0].controllerId", Matchers.equalTo("target3")));
+    }
 }
diff --git a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/management/JpaTargetManagement.java b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/management/JpaTargetManagement.java
index da2611a8d..a5d2f0e3b 100644
--- a/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/management/JpaTargetManagement.java
+++ b/hawkbit-repository/hawkbit-repository-jpa/src/main/java/org/eclipse/hawkbit/repository/jpa/management/JpaTargetManagement.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import jakarta.persistence.criteria.CriteriaUpdate;
 import jakarta.persistence.criteria.MapJoin;
 import jakarta.persistence.criteria.Predicate;
 import jakarta.persistence.criteria.Root;
+import jakarta.persistence.criteria.Subquery;
 import jakarta.persistence.metamodel.MapAttribute;
 import jakarta.validation.constraints.NotEmpty;
 
@@ -39,9 +40,11 @@ import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.QuotaManagement;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.TargetManagement;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.exception.EntityAlreadyExistsException;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.exception.EntityNotFoundException;
+import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa.Jpa;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa.JpaManagementHelper;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa.acm.AccessController;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa.configuration.Constants;
+import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa.model.AbstractJpaBaseEntity_;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa.model.JpaTarget;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa.model.JpaTargetTag;
 import org.eclipse.hawkbit.repository.jpa.model.JpaTargetType;
@@ -336,11 +339,24 @@ public class JpaTargetManagement
 
         final CriteriaBuilder cb = entityManager.getCriteriaBuilder();
         final CriteriaUpdate<JpaTarget> criteriaUpdateQuery = cb.createCriteriaUpdate(JpaTarget.class);
-        final Root<JpaTarget> root = criteriaUpdateQuery.getRoot();
+        final Root<JpaTarget> updateRoot = criteriaUpdateQuery.getRoot();
         criteriaUpdateQuery.set("group", group);
-        // get predicate from rsql specification using a dummy query in order to execute batch update
-        final Predicate predicate = rsqlSpecification.toPredicate(root, entityManager.getCriteriaBuilder().createQuery(JpaTarget.class), cb);
-        criteriaUpdateQuery.where(predicate);
+
+        if (Jpa.JPA_VENDOR == Jpa.JpaVendor.ECLIPSELINK) {
+            // EclipseLink: use subquery approach — applying predicate directly to the UPDATE root
+            // fails for NOT EXISTS due to UpdateAllQuery's @Id resolution bug
+            // BUG Reported: https://github.com/eclipse-ee4j/eclipselink/issues/2757
+            final Subquery<Long> subquery = criteriaUpdateQuery.subquery(Long.class);
+            final Root<JpaTarget> subRoot = subquery.from(JpaTarget.class);
+            subquery.select(subRoot.get(AbstractJpaBaseEntity_.ID));
+            subquery.where(rsqlSpecification.toPredicate(subRoot, cb.createQuery(JpaTarget.class), cb));
+            criteriaUpdateQuery.where(updateRoot.get(AbstractJpaBaseEntity_.ID).in(subquery));
+        } else {
+            // Hibernate: apply predicate directly to the UPDATE root — Hibernate handles
+            // NOT EXISTS subqueries correctly in CriteriaUpdate context
+            final Predicate predicate = rsqlSpecification.toPredicate(updateRoot, cb.createQuery(JpaTarget.class), cb);
+            criteriaUpdateQuery.where(predicate);
+        }
 
         entityManager.createQuery(criteriaUpdateQuery).executeUpdate();
     }