diff --git a/src/resolve/manifestResolver.ts b/src/resolve/manifestResolver.ts
index d4680229f4..db28dd4423 100644
--- a/src/resolve/manifestResolver.ts
+++ b/src/resolve/manifestResolver.ts
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@
  * For full license text, see LICENSE.txt file in the repo root or https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause
  */
 
-import { XMLParser } from 'fast-xml-parser';
+import { XMLParser, XMLValidator } from 'fast-xml-parser';
 import { ensureArray } from '@salesforce/kit';
+import { SfError } from '@salesforce/core';
 import { MetadataType, RegistryAccess } from '../registry';
 import { NodeFSTreeContainer, TreeContainer } from './treeContainers';
 import { MetadataComponent } from './types';
@@ -52,15 +53,22 @@ export class ManifestResolver {
   public async resolve(manifestPath: string): Promise<ResolveManifestResult> {
     const components: MetadataComponent[] = [];
 
-    const file = await this.tree.readFile(manifestPath);
-
+    const file = (await this.tree.readFile(manifestPath)).toString();
+    const validateResult = XMLValidator.validate(file);
+    if (validateResult !== true) {
+      const error = new SfError(
+        `Invalid manifest file: ${manifestPath}.  ${validateResult.err.code}: ${validateResult.err.msg} (Line ${validateResult.err.line} Column ${validateResult.err.col})`,
+        'InvalidManifest'
+      );
+      error.setData(validateResult.err);
+      throw error;
+    }
     const parser = new XMLParser({
       stopNodes: ['version'],
       // In order to preserve the .0 on the apiVersion skip parsing it
       numberParseOptions: { leadingZeros: false, hex: false, skipLike: /\.0$/ },
     });
-    const parsedManifest: ParsedPackageManifest = (parser.parse(String(file)) as { Package: ParsedPackageManifest })
-      .Package;
+    const parsedManifest: ParsedPackageManifest = (parser.parse(file) as { Package: ParsedPackageManifest }).Package;
     const packageTypeMembers = ensureArray(parsedManifest.types);
     const apiVersion = parsedManifest.version;
 
diff --git a/test/resolve/manifestResolver.test.ts b/test/resolve/manifestResolver.test.ts
index d098c1b8f0..6fce8bf9bb 100644
--- a/test/resolve/manifestResolver.test.ts
+++ b/test/resolve/manifestResolver.test.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  * For full license text, see LICENSE.txt file in the repo root or https://opensource.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause
  */
 
-import { expect } from 'chai';
+import { assert, expect } from 'chai';
 import { createSandbox } from 'sinon';
 import {
   ManifestResolver,
@@ -80,6 +80,33 @@ describe('ManifestResolver', () => {
       expect(result.components).to.deep.equal(expected);
     });
 
+    it('should throw on invalid xml', async () => {
+      const badManifest: VirtualFile = {
+        name: 'bad-package.xml',
+        data: Buffer.from(`<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+      <Package xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
+        <<types>
+          <members></members>
+          <name></name>
+        </types>
+        <version>52.0</version>
+      </Package>\n`),
+      };
+      const tree = new VirtualTreeContainer([
+        {
+          dirPath: '.',
+          children: [badManifest],
+        },
+      ]);
+      const resolver = new ManifestResolver(tree);
+      try {
+        await resolver.resolve(badManifest.name);
+        expect(true, 'expected invalid types definition error').to.be.false;
+      } catch (error) {
+        assert(error instanceof Error);
+        expect(error.name).to.equal('InvalidManifest');
+      }
+    });
     it('should throw when type is empty', async () => {
       const badManifest: VirtualFile = {
         name: 'bad-package.xml',