diff --git a/.github/workflows/validate.yml b/.github/workflows/validate.yml
index 9ca6470d2d2..54113f54208 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/validate.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/validate.yml
@@ -221,6 +221,20 @@ jobs:
         if: matrix.ghc == env.GHC_FOR_SOLVER_BENCHMARKS
         run: sh validate.sh $FLAGS -s solver-benchmarks-run
 
+      # Save the release sdists for later validation
+      # only do this on one platform/ghc because the sdists are the same everywhere
+      # NB. we only test cabal-install, and any ghc will do here since it's not used
+      - name: Create release sdists
+        if: runner.os == 'Linux' && matrix.ghc == env.GHC_FOR_RELEASE
+        run: cabal sdist cabal-install
+
+      - name: Upload release sdists to workflow artifacts
+        if: runner.os == 'Linux' && matrix.ghc == env.GHC_FOR_RELEASE
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: cabal-sdists
+          path: dist-newstyle/sdist/*
+
   validate-old-ghcs:
     name: Validate old ghcs ${{ matrix.extra-ghc }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -390,6 +404,60 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build using cabal HEAD
         run: sh validate.sh ${{ env.COMMON_FLAGS }} --with-cabal ./cabal-head/cabal -s build
 
+  # Dogfood the generated sdists, to avoid bugs like https://github.com/haskell/cabal/issues/9833
+  # No caching, since the point is to verify they can be installed "from scratch"
+  dogfood-sdists:
+    name: Dogfood validated sdists on ${{ matrix.os }} ghc-${{ matrix.ghc }}
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+    if: ${{ github.ref_name }} != 'master'
+    needs: validate
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        os: [ubuntu-latest]
+        # this should be kept up to date with the list above
+        # sharing these with the main validate job is possible but extremely painful; sadly,
+        # you can't simply reference another job's matrix
+        ghc:
+          [
+            "9.10.1",
+            "9.8.2",
+            "9.6.4",
+            "9.4.8",
+            "9.2.8",
+            "9.0.2",
+            "8.10.7",
+            "8.8.4",
+          ]
+
+    steps:
+
+      - uses: haskell-actions/setup@v2
+        id: setup-haskell
+        with:
+          ghc-version: ${{ matrix.ghc }}
+          cabal-version: latest
+
+      - name: Download sdists from workflow artifacts
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: cabal-sdists
+          path: .
+
+      - name: Install from sdists
+        run: |
+          # skip if a suitable Cabal isn't in the index (i.e. new major version, not released yet)
+          # we only want to test cabal-install, to ensure that it works with existing Cabals
+          sdist="$(ls cabal-install-*.tar.gz | sed -n 's/^cabal-install-[0-9.]*\.tar\.gz$/{;p;q;}')""
+          tar xf "$sdist" cabal-install.cabal
+          # (don't look at this too closely)
+          ver="$(sed -n '/^[Vv]ersion:[ \t]*\([0-9][0-9]*\.[0-9][0-9]*\)\.[0-9.]*$/{;s//\1/;p;q;}' cabal-install.cabal)"
+          # why???
+          if cabal list --simple-output Cabal | grep -q "^Cabal $cbl\\.""; then
+            cabal build "$sdist" --prefer-oldest
+          else
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
   prerelease-head:
     name: Create a GitHub prerelease with the binary artifacts
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -437,7 +505,7 @@ jobs:
     name: Validate post job
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     # IMPORTANT! Any job added to the workflow should be added here too
-    needs: [validate, validate-old-ghcs, build-alpine, dogfooding]
+    needs: [validate, validate-old-ghcs, build-alpine, dogfooding, dogfood-sdists]
 
     steps:
       - run: |