diff --git a/code/presets/create-react-app/src/helpers/checkPresets.ts b/code/presets/create-react-app/src/helpers/checkPresets.ts
index 38d11839343c..2827dab51f58 100644
--- a/code/presets/create-react-app/src/helpers/checkPresets.ts
+++ b/code/presets/create-react-app/src/helpers/checkPresets.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ const incompatiblePresets = ['@storybook/preset-scss', '@storybook/preset-typesc
 export const checkPresets = (options: PluginOptions): void => {
   const { presetsList } = options;
 
-  presetsList.forEach((preset: string | { name: string }) => {
+  presetsList?.forEach((preset: string | { name: string }) => {
     const presetName = typeof preset === 'string' ? preset : preset.name;
     if (incompatiblePresets.includes(presetName)) {
       logger.warn(
diff --git a/code/presets/create-react-app/src/helpers/mergePlugins.ts b/code/presets/create-react-app/src/helpers/mergePlugins.ts
index 4c3ff84ead18..c5fc7888674e 100644
--- a/code/presets/create-react-app/src/helpers/mergePlugins.ts
+++ b/code/presets/create-react-app/src/helpers/mergePlugins.ts
@@ -1,18 +1,19 @@
-import type { Configuration } from 'webpack';
+import type { Configuration, WebpackPluginInstance } from 'webpack';
 import ReactRefreshWebpackPlugin from '@pmmmwh/react-refresh-webpack-plugin';
 
-export const mergePlugins = (...args: Configuration['plugins']): Configuration['plugins'] =>
-  args.reduce((plugins, plugin) => {
+export const mergePlugins = (...args: WebpackPluginInstance[]): Configuration['plugins'] =>
+  args?.reduce((plugins, plugin) => {
     if (
-      plugins.some(
-        (includedPlugin) => includedPlugin.constructor.name === plugin.constructor.name
+      plugins?.some(
+        (includedPlugin: WebpackPluginInstance) =>
+          includedPlugin?.constructor.name === plugin?.constructor.name
       ) ||
-      plugin.constructor.name === 'WebpackManifestPlugin'
+      plugin?.constructor.name === 'WebpackManifestPlugin'
     ) {
       return plugins;
     }
     let updatedPlugin = plugin;
-    if (plugin.constructor.name === 'ReactRefreshPlugin') {
+    if (plugin?.constructor.name === 'ReactRefreshPlugin') {
       // Storybook uses webpack-hot-middleware
       // https://github.com/storybookjs/presets/issues/177
 
@@ -22,5 +23,5 @@ export const mergePlugins = (...args: Configuration['plugins']): Configuration['
         },
       });
     }
-    return [...plugins, updatedPlugin];
-  }, [] as Configuration['plugins']);
+    return [...(plugins ?? []), updatedPlugin];
+  }, [] as WebpackPluginInstance[]);
diff --git a/code/presets/create-react-app/src/helpers/processCraConfig.ts b/code/presets/create-react-app/src/helpers/processCraConfig.ts
index 25024ada0351..734776b03d4c 100644
--- a/code/presets/create-react-app/src/helpers/processCraConfig.ts
+++ b/code/presets/create-react-app/src/helpers/processCraConfig.ts
@@ -38,8 +38,9 @@ export const processCraConfig = (
   const storybookVersion = semver.coerce(options.packageJson.version) || '';
   const isStorybook530 = semver.gte(storybookVersion, '5.3.0');
 
-  // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-non-null-assertion
-  return craWebpackConfig.module!.rules.reduce((rules, rule): RuleSetRule[] => {
+  if (!craWebpackConfig?.module?.rules) return [];
+
+  return craWebpackConfig.module.rules.reduce((rules, rule): RuleSetRule[] => {
     const { oneOf, include } = rule as RuleSetRule;
 
     // Add our `configDir` to support JSX and TypeScript in that folder.
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ export const processCraConfig = (
       return [
         ...rules,
         {
+          // @ts-expect-error (not type correct)
           oneOf: oneOf.map((oneOfRule: RuleSetRule): RuleSetRule => {
             if (oneOfRule.type === 'asset/resource') {
               if (isStorybook530) {
diff --git a/code/presets/create-react-app/src/index.ts b/code/presets/create-react-app/src/index.ts
index e480e438ef91..9d2de88293e1 100644
--- a/code/presets/create-react-app/src/index.ts
+++ b/code/presets/create-react-app/src/index.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /* eslint-disable import/no-extraneous-dependencies */
 import { join, relative, dirname } from 'path';
-import type { Configuration, RuleSetRule } from 'webpack';
+import type { Configuration, RuleSetRule, WebpackPluginInstance } from 'webpack';
 import semver from 'semver';
 import { logger } from '@storybook/node-logger';
 import PnpWebpackPlugin from 'pnp-webpack-plugin';
@@ -78,12 +78,13 @@ const webpack = async (
 
   // Remove existing rules related to JavaScript and TypeScript.
   logger.info(`=> Removing existing JavaScript and TypeScript rules.`);
-  const filteredRules =
-    webpackConfig.module &&
-    webpackConfig.module.rules.filter(
-      ({ test }: RuleSetRule) =>
-        !(test instanceof RegExp && ((test && test.test('.js')) || test.test('.ts')))
-    );
+  const filteredRules = (webpackConfig.module?.rules as RuleSetRule[])?.filter((rule) => {
+    if (typeof rule === 'string') {
+      return false;
+    }
+    const { test } = rule;
+    return !(test instanceof RegExp && (test?.test('.js') || test?.test('.ts')));
+  });
 
   // Require the CRA config and set the appropriate mode.
   const craWebpackConfigPath = join(scriptsPath, 'config', 'webpack.config');
@@ -133,8 +134,8 @@ const webpack = async (
     // NOTE: this prioritizes the storybook version of a plugin
     // when there are duplicates between SB and CRA
     plugins: mergePlugins(
-      ...(webpackConfig.plugins || []),
-      ...(craWebpackConfig.plugins ?? []),
+      ...((webpackConfig.plugins ?? []) as WebpackPluginInstance[]),
+      ...((craWebpackConfig.plugins ?? []) as WebpackPluginInstance[]),
       ...tsDocgenPlugin
     ),
     resolve: {
diff --git a/code/presets/create-react-app/tsconfig.json b/code/presets/create-react-app/tsconfig.json
index a7d41e8a79b5..a4429176e35f 100644
--- a/code/presets/create-react-app/tsconfig.json
+++ b/code/presets/create-react-app/tsconfig.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "extends": "../../tsconfig.json",
   "compilerOptions": {
-    "strict": false
+    "strict": true
   },
   "include": ["src/**/*"]
 }