If you use white stones to prevent the item from failing and decreasing the upgrade, works fine. But, if you get a success and then a fail or a bunch of fails, the item will decrease the upgrades even with the white stone placed.
https://i.gyazo.com/951c795be3fed9d0b9ca8fa1337be2c6.mp4
Edit: Looks like this is caused because I get a Broken option, but the game only shows Failed.