diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer/image_layer.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer/image_layer.rs
index 072ecce30f..ed490fed21 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer/image_layer.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/storage_layer/image_layer.rs
@@ -396,7 +396,12 @@ impl ImageLayerInner {
         let actual_summary =
             Summary::des_prefix(summary_blk.as_ref()).context("deserialize first block")?;
 
+        if actual_summary.format_version > STORAGE_FORMAT_VERSION {
+            bail!("Forward compatibility of storage is not supported: current format version is {}, format version of layer {} is {}", STORAGE_FORMAT_VERSION, path, actual_summary.format_version);
+        }
         if let Some(mut expected_summary) = summary {
+            // assume backward compatibility
+            expected_summary.format_version = actual_summary.format_version;
             // production code path
             expected_summary.index_start_blk = actual_summary.index_start_blk;
             expected_summary.index_root_blk = actual_summary.index_root_blk;