diff --git a/internal/cli/entry_test.go b/internal/cli/entry_test.go
index 3312902..6e9f437 100644
--- a/internal/cli/entry_test.go
+++ b/internal/cli/entry_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package cli
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
+	"math/rand"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/afero"
@@ -483,3 +484,74 @@ func TestGenerateAtomicWriteCleansUpOnError(t *testing.T) {
 	tmpExists, _ := afero.Exists(baseFs, "/output.mf.tmp")
 	assert.False(t, tmpExists, "temp file should be cleaned up after failed generation")
 }
+
+func TestCheckDetectsManifestCorruption(t *testing.T) {
+	fs := afero.NewMemMapFs()
+	rng := rand.New(rand.NewSource(42))
+
+	// Create many small files with random names to generate a ~1MB manifest
+	// Each manifest entry is roughly 50-60 bytes, so we need ~20000 files
+	require.NoError(t, fs.MkdirAll("/testdir", 0755))
+
+	numFiles := 20000
+	for i := 0; i < numFiles; i++ {
+		// Generate random filename
+		filename := fmt.Sprintf("/testdir/%08x%08x%08x.dat", rng.Uint32(), rng.Uint32(), rng.Uint32())
+		// Small random content
+		content := make([]byte, 16+rng.Intn(48))
+		rng.Read(content)
+		require.NoError(t, afero.WriteFile(fs, filename, content, 0644))
+	}
+
+	// Generate manifest outside of testdir
+	opts := testOpts([]string{"mfer", "generate", "-q", "-o", "/manifest.mf", "/testdir"}, fs)
+	exitCode := RunWithOptions(opts)
+	require.Equal(t, 0, exitCode, "generate should succeed")
+
+	// Read the valid manifest and verify it's approximately 1MB
+	validManifest, err := afero.ReadFile(fs, "/manifest.mf")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.True(t, len(validManifest) >= 1024*1024, "manifest should be at least 1MB, got %d bytes", len(validManifest))
+	t.Logf("manifest size: %d bytes (%d files)", len(validManifest), numFiles)
+
+	// First corruption: truncate the manifest
+	require.NoError(t, afero.WriteFile(fs, "/manifest.mf", validManifest[:len(validManifest)/2], 0644))
+
+	// Check should fail with truncated manifest
+	opts = testOpts([]string{"mfer", "check", "-q", "--base", "/testdir", "/manifest.mf"}, fs)
+	exitCode = RunWithOptions(opts)
+	assert.Equal(t, 1, exitCode, "check should fail with truncated manifest")
+
+	// Verify check passes with valid manifest
+	require.NoError(t, afero.WriteFile(fs, "/manifest.mf", validManifest, 0644))
+	opts = testOpts([]string{"mfer", "check", "-q", "--base", "/testdir", "/manifest.mf"}, fs)
+	exitCode = RunWithOptions(opts)
+	require.Equal(t, 0, exitCode, "check should pass with valid manifest")
+
+	// Now do 500 random corruption iterations
+	for i := 0; i < 500; i++ {
+		// Corrupt: write a random byte at a random offset
+		corrupted := make([]byte, len(validManifest))
+		copy(corrupted, validManifest)
+
+		offset := rng.Intn(len(corrupted))
+		originalByte := corrupted[offset]
+		// Make sure we actually change the byte
+		newByte := byte(rng.Intn(256))
+		for newByte == originalByte {
+			newByte = byte(rng.Intn(256))
+		}
+		corrupted[offset] = newByte
+
+		require.NoError(t, afero.WriteFile(fs, "/manifest.mf", corrupted, 0644))
+
+		// Check should fail with corrupted manifest
+		opts = testOpts([]string{"mfer", "check", "-q", "--base", "/testdir", "/manifest.mf"}, fs)
+		exitCode = RunWithOptions(opts)
+		assert.Equal(t, 1, exitCode, "iteration %d: check should fail with corrupted manifest (offset %d, 0x%02x -> 0x%02x)",
+			i, offset, originalByte, newByte)
+
+		// Restore valid manifest for next iteration
+		require.NoError(t, afero.WriteFile(fs, "/manifest.mf", validManifest, 0644))
+	}
+}