diff --git a/bin/pungi-config-dump b/bin/pungi-config-dump
index 91b3fd0c..f8d29601 100755
--- a/bin/pungi-config-dump
+++ b/bin/pungi-config-dump
@@ -112,8 +112,7 @@ def process_file(
 
     # Clean up defines from the final final config. We don't want to keep them
     # as they would cause warnings during validation.
-    for key in defines:
-        del conf[key]
+    config_utils.remove_unknown(conf, defines)
 
     if callback:
         callback(conf)
diff --git a/bin/pungi-config-validate b/bin/pungi-config-validate
index 5b9db3f9..ba7a045c 100755
--- a/bin/pungi-config-validate
+++ b/bin/pungi-config-validate
@@ -92,8 +92,7 @@ def run(config, topdir, has_old, offline, defined_variables):
     # Load actual configuration
     conf = pungi.util.load_config(config, defined_variables)
     # Remove the dummy variables used for defaults.
-    for key in defined_variables:
-        del conf[key]
+    config_utils.remove_unknown(conf, defined_variables)
 
     errors, warnings = pungi.checks.validate(conf, offline=offline)
     if errors or warnings:
diff --git a/pungi_utils/config_utils.py b/pungi_utils/config_utils.py
index fbe7d3dd..326bd769 100644
--- a/pungi_utils/config_utils.py
+++ b/pungi_utils/config_utils.py
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 import argparse
 import re
 
+from pungi.checks import make_schema
+
 
 def validate_definition(value):
     """Check that the variable name is a valid Python variable name, and that
@@ -18,3 +20,11 @@ def validate_definition(value):
 def extract_defines(args):
     """Given an iterable of "key=value" strings, parse them into a dict."""
     return dict(var.split("=", 1) for var in args)
+
+
+def remove_unknown(conf, keys):
+    """Remove given keys from the config unless they are known Pungi options."""
+    schema = make_schema()
+    for key in keys:
+        if key not in schema["properties"]:
+            del conf[key]
diff --git a/tests/test_config_utils.py b/tests/test_config_utils.py
index f0628a89..26bfed45 100644
--- a/tests/test_config_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_config_utils.py
@@ -35,3 +35,13 @@ class TestDefineHelpers(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_validate_define_incorrect(self, value):
         with self.assertRaises(argparse.ArgumentTypeError):
             config_utils.validate_definition(value)
+
+    def test_remove_unknown(self):
+        conf = {"foo": "bar"}
+        config_utils.remove_unknown(conf, ["foo"])
+        self.assertEqual(conf, {})
+
+    def test_remove_known(self):
+        conf = {"release_name": "bar"}
+        config_utils.remove_unknown(conf, ["release_name"])
+        self.assertEqual(conf, {"release_name": "bar"})