diff --git a/compiler/rustc_const_eval/src/interpret/validity.rs b/compiler/rustc_const_eval/src/interpret/validity.rs
index 62ee653000dc..9310cda8450b 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_const_eval/src/interpret/validity.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_const_eval/src/interpret/validity.rs
@@ -1512,6 +1512,7 @@ fn visit_value(&mut self, val: &PlaceTy<'tcx, M::Provenance>) -> InterpResult<'t
 }
 
 impl<'tcx, M: Machine<'tcx>> InterpCx<'tcx, M> {
+    /// The internal core entry point for all validation operations.
     fn validate_operand_internal(
         &mut self,
         val: &PlaceTy<'tcx, M::Provenance>,
@@ -1519,6 +1520,7 @@ fn validate_operand_internal(
         ref_tracking: Option<&mut RefTracking<MPlaceTy<'tcx, M::Provenance>, Vec<PathElem>>>,
         ctfe_mode: Option<CtfeValidationMode>,
         reset_provenance_and_padding: bool,
+        start_in_may_dangle: bool,
     ) -> InterpResult<'tcx> {
         trace!("validate_operand_internal: {:?}, {:?}", *val, val.layout.ty);
 
@@ -1536,7 +1538,7 @@ fn validate_operand_internal(
                 ecx,
                 reset_provenance_and_padding,
                 data_bytes: reset_padding.then_some(RangeSet(Vec::new())),
-                may_dangle: false,
+                may_dangle: start_in_may_dangle,
             };
             v.visit_value(val)?;
             v.reset_padding(val)?;
@@ -1579,6 +1581,7 @@ pub(crate) fn const_validate_operand(
             Some(ref_tracking),
             Some(ctfe_mode),
             /*reset_provenance*/ false,
+            /*start_in_may_dangle*/ false,
         )
     }
 
@@ -1610,6 +1613,7 @@ pub fn validate_operand(
                 None,
                 None,
                 reset_provenance_and_padding,
+                /*start_in_may_dangle*/ false,
             );
         }
         // Do a recursive check.
@@ -1620,15 +1624,19 @@ pub fn validate_operand(
             Some(&mut ref_tracking),
             None,
             reset_provenance_and_padding,
+            /*start_in_may_dangle*/ false,
         )?;
         while let Some((mplace, path)) = ref_tracking.todo.pop() {
-            // Things behind reference do *not* have the provenance reset.
+            // Things behind reference do *not* have the provenance reset. In fact
+            // we treat the entire thing as being inside MaybeDangling, i.e., references
+            // do not have to be dereferenceable.
             self.validate_operand_internal(
                 &mplace.into(),
                 path,
-                Some(&mut ref_tracking),
+                None, // no further recursion
                 None,
                 /*reset_provenance_and_padding*/ false,
+                /*start_in_may_dangle*/ true,
             )?;
         }
         interp_ok(())
diff --git a/src/tools/miri/README.md b/src/tools/miri/README.md
index 97f385ad755b..f51cd96486b4 100644
--- a/src/tools/miri/README.md
+++ b/src/tools/miri/README.md
@@ -476,8 +476,9 @@ to Miri failing to detect cases of undefined behavior in a program.
   but reports to the program that it did actually write. This is useful when you
   are not interested in the actual program's output, but only want to see Miri's
   errors and warnings.
-* `-Zmiri-recursive-validation` is a *highly experimental* flag that makes validity checking
-  recurse below references.
+* `-Zmiri-recursive-validation` is a *highly experimental* flag that makes validity checking recurse
+  *one level* below references. The in-memory value is treated as-if it was inside a
+  `MaybeDangling`, i.e., nested references do not even have to be dereferenceable.
 * `-Zmiri-preemption-rate` configures the probability that at the end of a basic block, the active
   thread will be preempted. The default is `0.01` (i.e., 1%). Setting this to `0` disables
   preemption. Note that even without preemption, the schedule is still non-deterministic: