diff --git a/pkg/storage/common.go b/pkg/storage/common.go
index 1ece6d9a..41d5671e 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/common.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/common.go
@@ -152,10 +152,16 @@ func validateOCIManifest(imgStore ImageStore, repo, reference string, manifest *
 	}
 
 	// validate the layers
-	for _, l := range manifest.Layers {
-		_, err := imgStore.GetBlobContent(repo, l.Digest)
+	for _, layer := range manifest.Layers {
+		if IsNonDistributable(layer.MediaType) {
+			log.Warn().Str("digest", layer.Digest.String()).Str("mediaType", layer.MediaType).Msg("not validating layer exists")
+
+			continue
+		}
+
+		_, err := imgStore.GetBlobContent(repo, layer.Digest)
 		if err != nil {
-			return l.Digest, zerr.ErrBlobNotFound
+			return layer.Digest, zerr.ErrBlobNotFound
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -717,6 +723,12 @@ func IsSupportedMediaType(mediaType string) bool {
 		mediaType == oras.MediaTypeArtifactManifest
 }
 
+func IsNonDistributable(mediaType string) bool {
+	return mediaType == ispec.MediaTypeImageLayerNonDistributable ||
+		mediaType == ispec.MediaTypeImageLayerNonDistributableGzip ||
+		mediaType == ispec.MediaTypeImageLayerNonDistributableZstd
+}
+
 // CheckIsImageSignature checks if the given image (repo:tag) represents a signature. The function
 // returns:
 //
diff --git a/pkg/storage/common_test.go b/pkg/storage/common_test.go
index 097cd000..d94a2ddf 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/common_test.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/common_test.go
@@ -104,6 +104,35 @@ func TestValidateManifest(t *testing.T) {
 			_, err = imgStore.PutImageManifest("test", "1.0", ispec.MediaTypeImageManifest, body)
 			So(err, ShouldNotBeNil)
 		})
+
+		Convey("manifest with non-distributable layers", func() {
+			content := []byte("this blob doesn't exist")
+			digest := godigest.FromBytes(content)
+			So(digest, ShouldNotBeNil)
+
+			manifest := ispec.Manifest{
+				Config: ispec.Descriptor{
+					MediaType: ispec.MediaTypeImageConfig,
+					Digest:    cdigest,
+					Size:      int64(len(cblob)),
+				},
+				Layers: []ispec.Descriptor{
+					{
+						MediaType: ispec.MediaTypeImageLayerNonDistributable,
+						Digest:    digest,
+						Size:      int64(len(content)),
+					},
+				},
+			}
+
+			manifest.SchemaVersion = 2
+
+			body, err := json.Marshal(manifest)
+			So(err, ShouldBeNil)
+
+			_, err = imgStore.PutImageManifest("test", "1.0", ispec.MediaTypeImageManifest, body)
+			So(err, ShouldBeNil)
+		})
 	})
 }