diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index ce12af73fc6..8c988e1bc0d 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ require (
 
 require (
 	github.com/CycloneDX/cyclonedx-go v0.7.1
+	github.com/Masterminds/semver v1.5.0
 	github.com/Masterminds/sprig/v3 v3.2.3
 	github.com/anchore/go-logger v0.0.0-20220728155337-03b66a5207d8
 	github.com/anchore/stereoscope v0.0.0-20230412183729-8602f1afc574
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index e96635aad6a..f7c61e853b5 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -62,6 +62,8 @@ github.com/DataDog/zstd v1.4.5 h1:EndNeuB0l9syBZhut0wns3gV1hL8zX8LIu6ZiVHWLIQ=
 github.com/DataDog/zstd v1.4.5/go.mod h1:1jcaCB/ufaK+sKp1NBhlGmpz41jOoPQ35bpF36t7BBo=
 github.com/Masterminds/goutils v1.1.1 h1:5nUrii3FMTL5diU80unEVvNevw1nH4+ZV4DSLVJLSYI=
 github.com/Masterminds/goutils v1.1.1/go.mod h1:8cTjp+g8YejhMuvIA5y2vz3BpJxksy863GQaJW2MFNU=
+github.com/Masterminds/semver v1.5.0 h1:H65muMkzWKEuNDnfl9d70GUjFniHKHRbFPGBuZ3QEww=
+github.com/Masterminds/semver v1.5.0/go.mod h1:MB6lktGJrhw8PrUyiEoblNEGEQ+RzHPF078ddwwvV3Y=
 github.com/Masterminds/semver/v3 v3.2.0 h1:3MEsd0SM6jqZojhjLWWeBY+Kcjy9i6MQAeY7YgDP83g=
 github.com/Masterminds/semver/v3 v3.2.0/go.mod h1:qvl/7zhW3nngYb5+80sSMF+FG2BjYrf8m9wsX0PNOMQ=
 github.com/Masterminds/sprig/v3 v3.2.3 h1:eL2fZNezLomi0uOLqjQoN6BfsDD+fyLtgbJMAj9n6YA=
diff --git a/syft/formats/syftjson/decoder.go b/syft/formats/syftjson/decoder.go
index b6286bd97c6..845c1fc0ba3 100644
--- a/syft/formats/syftjson/decoder.go
+++ b/syft/formats/syftjson/decoder.go
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 
+	"github.com/Masterminds/semver"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/internal"
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/internal/log"
 	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/formats/syftjson/model"
 	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/sbom"
 )
@@ -18,5 +22,27 @@ func decoder(reader io.Reader) (*sbom.SBOM, error) {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to decode syft-json: %w", err)
 	}
 
+	if err := checkSupportedSchema(doc.Schema.Version, internal.JSONSchemaVersion); err != nil {
+		log.Warn(err)
+	}
+
 	return toSyftModel(doc)
 }
+
+func checkSupportedSchema(documentVerion string, parserVersion string) error {
+	documentV, err := semver.NewVersion(documentVerion)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("error comparing document schema version with parser schema version: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	parserV, err := semver.NewVersion(parserVersion)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("error comparing document schema version with parser schema version: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	if documentV.GreaterThan(parserV) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("document has schema version %s, but parser has older schema version (%s)", documentVerion, parserVersion)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/syft/formats/syftjson/decoder_test.go b/syft/formats/syftjson/decoder_test.go
index de9ab7bcf7c..e0de5fffbc4 100644
--- a/syft/formats/syftjson/decoder_test.go
+++ b/syft/formats/syftjson/decoder_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ package syftjson
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -49,3 +51,38 @@ func TestEncodeDecodeCycle(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestOutOfDateParser(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name            string
+		documentVersion string
+		parserVersion   string
+		want            error
+	}{{
+		name:            "no warning when doc version is older",
+		documentVersion: "1.0.9",
+		parserVersion:   "3.1.0",
+	}, {
+		name:            "warning when parser is older",
+		documentVersion: "4.3.2",
+		parserVersion:   "3.1.0",
+		want:            fmt.Errorf("document has schema version %s, but parser has older schema version (%s)", "4.3.2", "3.1.0"),
+	}, {
+		name:            "warning when document version is unparseable",
+		documentVersion: "some-nonsense",
+		parserVersion:   "3.1.0",
+		want:            fmt.Errorf("error comparing document schema version with parser schema version: %w", errors.New("Invalid Semantic Version")),
+	}, {
+		name:            "warning when parser version is unparseable",
+		documentVersion: "7.1.0",
+		parserVersion:   "some-nonsense",
+		want:            fmt.Errorf("error comparing document schema version with parser schema version: %w", errors.New("Invalid Semantic Version")),
+	}}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := checkSupportedSchema(tt.documentVersion, tt.parserVersion)
+			assert.Equal(t, tt.want, got)
+		})
+	}
+}