diff --git a/doc/stdenv/stdenv.chapter.md b/doc/stdenv/stdenv.chapter.md
index 853b56f3c510f..868a7543d9ad3 100644
--- a/doc/stdenv/stdenv.chapter.md
+++ b/doc/stdenv/stdenv.chapter.md
@@ -1371,6 +1371,16 @@ This setup hook moves any systemd user units installed in the `lib/` subdirector
 
 This hook only runs when compiling for Linux.
 
+### `no-broken-symlinks.sh` {#no-broken-symlinks.sh}
+
+This setup hook checks for, reports, and (by default) fails builds when "broken" symlinks are found. A symlink is considered "broken" if it's dangling (the target doesn't exist) or reflexive (it refers to itself).
+
+This hook can be disabled by setting `dontCheckForBrokenSymlinks`.
+
+::: {.note}
+The check for reflexivity is direct and does not account for transitivity, so this hook will not prevent cycles in symlinks.
+:::
+
 ### `set-source-date-epoch-to-latest.sh` {#set-source-date-epoch-to-latest.sh}
 
 This sets `SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH` to the modification time of the most recent file.
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/no-broken-symlinks.sh b/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/no-broken-symlinks.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..e4acaa1ec1149
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/setup-hooks/no-broken-symlinks.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+# shellcheck shell=bash
+
+# Guard against double inclusion.
+if (("${noBrokenSymlinksHookInstalled:-0}" > 0)); then
+  nixInfoLog "skipping because the hook has been propagated more than once"
+  return 0
+fi
+declare -ig noBrokenSymlinksHookInstalled=1
+
+# symlinks are often created in postFixup
+# don't use fixupOutputHooks, it is before postFixup
+postFixupHooks+=(noBrokenSymlinksInAllOutputs)
+
+# A symlink is "dangling" if it points to a non-existent target.
+# A symlink is "reflexive" if it points to itself.
+# A symlink is considered "broken" if it is either dangling or reflexive.
+noBrokenSymlinks() {
+  local -r output="${1:?}"
+  local path
+  local pathParent
+  local symlinkTarget
+  local -i numDanglingSymlinks=0
+  local -i numReflexiveSymlinks=0
+
+  # NOTE(@connorbaker): This hook doesn't check for cycles in symlinks.
+
+  if [[ ! -e $output ]]; then
+    nixWarnLog "skipping non-existent output $output"
+    return 0
+  fi
+  nixInfoLog "running on $output"
+
+  # NOTE: path is absolute because we're running `find` against an absolute path (`output`).
+  while IFS= read -r -d $'\0' path; do
+    pathParent="$(dirname "$path")"
+    symlinkTarget="$(readlink "$path")"
+
+    # Canonicalize symlinkTarget to an absolute path.
+    if [[ $symlinkTarget == /* ]]; then
+      nixInfoLog "symlink $path points to absolute target $symlinkTarget"
+    else
+      nixInfoLog "symlink $path points to relative target $symlinkTarget"
+      # Use --no-symlinks to avoid dereferencing again and --canonicalize-missing to avoid existence
+      # checks at this step (which can lead to infinite recursion).
+      symlinkTarget="$(realpath --no-symlinks --canonicalize-missing "$pathParent/$symlinkTarget")"
+    fi
+
+    if [[ $path == "$symlinkTarget" ]]; then
+      nixErrorLog "the symlink $path is reflexive $symlinkTarget"
+      numReflexiveSymlinks+=1
+    elif [[ ! -e $symlinkTarget ]]; then
+      nixErrorLog "the symlink $path points to a missing target $symlinkTarget"
+      numDanglingSymlinks+=1
+    else
+      nixDebugLog "the symlink $path is irreflexive and points to a target which exists"
+    fi
+  done < <(find "$output" -type l -print0)
+
+  if ((numDanglingSymlinks > 0 || numReflexiveSymlinks > 0)); then
+    nixErrorLog "found $numDanglingSymlinks dangling symlinks and $numReflexiveSymlinks reflexive symlinks"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  return 0
+}
+
+noBrokenSymlinksInAllOutputs() {
+  if [[ -z ${dontCheckForBrokenSymlinks-} ]]; then
+    for output in $(getAllOutputNames); do
+      noBrokenSymlinks "${!output}"
+    done
+  fi
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
index fe9843c6b1202..57a58eb2ebe4b 100644
--- a/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/stdenv/generic/default.nix
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ let
           ../../build-support/setup-hooks/move-sbin.sh
           ../../build-support/setup-hooks/move-systemd-user-units.sh
           ../../build-support/setup-hooks/multiple-outputs.sh
+          ../../build-support/setup-hooks/no-broken-symlinks.sh
           ../../build-support/setup-hooks/patch-shebangs.sh
           ../../build-support/setup-hooks/prune-libtool-files.sh
           ../../build-support/setup-hooks/reproducible-builds.sh
diff --git a/pkgs/test/stdenv/hooks.nix b/pkgs/test/stdenv/hooks.nix
index 6a419ab51e5d0..83e82b77b24b3 100644
--- a/pkgs/test/stdenv/hooks.nix
+++ b/pkgs/test/stdenv/hooks.nix
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@
       [[ -e $out/bin/foo ]]
     '';
   };
+  no-broken-symlinks = import ./no-broken-symlinks.nix { inherit stdenv lib pkgs; };
   # TODO: add multiple-outputs
   patch-shebangs = import ./patch-shebangs.nix { inherit stdenv lib pkgs; };
   prune-libtool-files =
diff --git a/pkgs/test/stdenv/no-broken-symlinks.nix b/pkgs/test/stdenv/no-broken-symlinks.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..0eb0ef0f982e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/test/stdenv/no-broken-symlinks.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,191 @@
+{
+  lib,
+  pkgs,
+  stdenv,
+}:
+
+let
+  inherit (lib.strings) concatStringsSep;
+  inherit (pkgs) runCommand;
+  inherit (pkgs.testers) testBuildFailure;
+
+  mkDanglingSymlink = absolute: ''
+    ln -s${if absolute then "r" else ""} "$out/dangling" "$out/dangling-symlink"
+  '';
+
+  mkReflexiveSymlink = absolute: ''
+    ln -s${if absolute then "r" else ""} "$out/reflexive-symlink" "$out/reflexive-symlink"
+  '';
+
+  mkValidSymlink = absolute: ''
+    touch "$out/valid"
+    ln -s${if absolute then "r" else ""} "$out/valid" "$out/valid-symlink"
+  '';
+
+  testBuilder =
+    {
+      name,
+      commands ? [ ],
+      derivationArgs ? { },
+    }:
+    stdenv.mkDerivation (
+      {
+        inherit name;
+        strictDeps = true;
+        dontUnpack = true;
+        dontPatch = true;
+        dontConfigure = true;
+        dontBuild = true;
+        installPhase =
+          ''
+            mkdir -p "$out"
+
+          ''
+          + concatStringsSep "\n" commands;
+      }
+      // derivationArgs
+    );
+in
+{
+  fail-dangling-symlink-relative =
+    runCommand "fail-dangling-symlink-relative"
+      {
+        failed = testBuildFailure (testBuilder {
+          name = "fail-dangling-symlink-relative-inner";
+          commands = [ (mkDanglingSymlink false) ];
+        });
+      }
+      ''
+        (( 1 == "$(cat "$failed/testBuildFailure.exit")" ))
+        grep -F 'found 1 dangling symlinks and 0 reflexive symlinks' "$failed/testBuildFailure.log"
+        touch $out
+      '';
+
+  pass-dangling-symlink-relative-allowed = testBuilder {
+    name = "pass-dangling-symlink-relative-allowed";
+    commands = [ (mkDanglingSymlink false) ];
+    derivationArgs.dontCheckForBrokenSymlinks = true;
+  };
+
+  fail-dangling-symlink-absolute =
+    runCommand "fail-dangling-symlink-absolute"
+      {
+        failed = testBuildFailure (testBuilder {
+          name = "fail-dangling-symlink-absolute-inner";
+          commands = [ (mkDanglingSymlink true) ];
+        });
+      }
+      ''
+        (( 1 == "$(cat "$failed/testBuildFailure.exit")" ))
+        grep -F 'found 1 dangling symlinks and 0 reflexive symlinks' "$failed/testBuildFailure.log"
+        touch $out
+      '';
+
+  pass-dangling-symlink-absolute-allowed = testBuilder {
+    name = "pass-dangling-symlink-absolute-allowed";
+    commands = [ (mkDanglingSymlink true) ];
+    derivationArgs.dontCheckForBrokenSymlinks = true;
+  };
+
+  fail-reflexive-symlink-relative =
+    runCommand "fail-reflexive-symlink-relative"
+      {
+        failed = testBuildFailure (testBuilder {
+          name = "fail-reflexive-symlink-relative-inner";
+          commands = [ (mkReflexiveSymlink false) ];
+        });
+      }
+      ''
+        (( 1 == "$(cat "$failed/testBuildFailure.exit")" ))
+        grep -F 'found 0 dangling symlinks and 1 reflexive symlinks' "$failed/testBuildFailure.log"
+        touch $out
+      '';
+
+  pass-reflexive-symlink-relative-allowed = testBuilder {
+    name = "pass-reflexive-symlink-relative-allowed";
+    commands = [ (mkReflexiveSymlink false) ];
+    derivationArgs.dontCheckForBrokenSymlinks = true;
+  };
+
+  fail-reflexive-symlink-absolute =
+    runCommand "fail-reflexive-symlink-absolute"
+      {
+        failed = testBuildFailure (testBuilder {
+          name = "fail-reflexive-symlink-absolute-inner";
+          commands = [ (mkReflexiveSymlink true) ];
+        });
+      }
+      ''
+        (( 1 == "$(cat "$failed/testBuildFailure.exit")" ))
+        grep -F 'found 0 dangling symlinks and 1 reflexive symlinks' "$failed/testBuildFailure.log"
+        touch $out
+      '';
+
+  pass-reflexive-symlink-absolute-allowed = testBuilder {
+    name = "pass-reflexive-symlink-absolute-allowed";
+    commands = [ (mkReflexiveSymlink true) ];
+    derivationArgs.dontCheckForBrokenSymlinks = true;
+  };
+
+  fail-broken-symlinks-relative =
+    runCommand "fail-broken-symlinks-relative"
+      {
+        failed = testBuildFailure (testBuilder {
+          name = "fail-broken-symlinks-relative-inner";
+          commands = [
+            (mkDanglingSymlink false)
+            (mkReflexiveSymlink false)
+          ];
+        });
+      }
+      ''
+        (( 1 == "$(cat "$failed/testBuildFailure.exit")" ))
+        grep -F 'found 1 dangling symlinks and 1 reflexive symlinks' "$failed/testBuildFailure.log"
+        touch $out
+      '';
+
+  pass-broken-symlinks-relative-allowed = testBuilder {
+    name = "pass-broken-symlinks-relative-allowed";
+    commands = [
+      (mkDanglingSymlink false)
+      (mkReflexiveSymlink false)
+    ];
+    derivationArgs.dontCheckForBrokenSymlinks = true;
+  };
+
+  fail-broken-symlinks-absolute =
+    runCommand "fail-broken-symlinks-absolute"
+      {
+        failed = testBuildFailure (testBuilder {
+          name = "fail-broken-symlinks-absolute-inner";
+          commands = [
+            (mkDanglingSymlink true)
+            (mkReflexiveSymlink true)
+          ];
+        });
+      }
+      ''
+        (( 1 == "$(cat "$failed/testBuildFailure.exit")" ))
+        grep -F 'found 1 dangling symlinks and 1 reflexive symlinks' "$failed/testBuildFailure.log"
+        touch $out
+      '';
+
+  pass-broken-symlinks-absolute-allowed = testBuilder {
+    name = "pass-broken-symlinks-absolute-allowed";
+    commands = [
+      (mkDanglingSymlink true)
+      (mkReflexiveSymlink true)
+    ];
+    derivationArgs.dontCheckForBrokenSymlinks = true;
+  };
+
+  pass-valid-symlink-relative = testBuilder {
+    name = "pass-valid-symlink-relative";
+    commands = [ (mkValidSymlink false) ];
+  };
+
+  pass-valid-symlink-absolute = testBuilder {
+    name = "pass-valid-symlink-absolute";
+    commands = [ (mkValidSymlink true) ];
+  };
+}