diff --git a/lib/utils.pm b/lib/utils.pm
index 4ab6216c..d95c50a5 100644
--- a/lib/utils.pm
+++ b/lib/utils.pm
@@ -1283,6 +1283,8 @@ sub advisory_check_nonmatching_packages {
     # for debugging, may as well always upload these, can't hurt anything
     upload_logs "/tmp/installedupdatepkgs.txt", failok => 1;
     upload_logs "/mnt/updatepkgs.txt", failok => 1;
+    # ensure python3-dnf is present for the check script
+    assert_script_run 'dnf -y install python3-dnf' unless (get_var("CANNED"));
     # download the check script and run it
     assert_script_run 'curl --retry-delay 10 --max-time 30 --retry 5 -o updvercheck.py https://pagure.io/fedora-qa/os-autoinst-distri-fedora/raw/main/f/updvercheck.py', timeout => 180;
     my $advisory = get_var("ADVISORY");