diff --git a/sources/Engine.ts b/sources/Engine.ts
index 208d5a87c..d93501596 100644
--- a/sources/Engine.ts
+++ b/sources/Engine.ts
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ export class Engine {
    * project using the default package managers, and configure it so that we
    * don't need to ask again in the future.
    */
-  async findProjectSpec(initialCwd: string, locator: Locator | LazyLocator, {transparent = false}: {transparent?: boolean} = {}): Promise<Descriptor> {
+  async findProjectSpec(initialCwd: string, locator: Locator | LazyLocator, {transparent = false, binaryVersion}: {transparent?: boolean, binaryVersion?: string | null} = {}): Promise<Descriptor> {
     // A locator is a valid descriptor (but not the other way around)
     const fallbackDescriptor = {name: locator.name, range: `${locator.reference}`};
 
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ export class Engine {
         }
 
         case `Found`: {
-          const spec = result.getSpec();
+          const spec = result.getSpec({enforceExactVersion: !binaryVersion});
           if (spec.name !== locator.name) {
             if (transparent) {
               if (typeof locator.reference === `function`)
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ export class Engine {
       };
     }
 
-    const descriptor = await this.findProjectSpec(cwd, fallbackLocator, {transparent: isTransparentCommand});
+    const descriptor = await this.findProjectSpec(cwd, fallbackLocator, {transparent: isTransparentCommand, binaryVersion});
 
     if (binaryVersion)
       descriptor.range = binaryVersion;
diff --git a/sources/specUtils.ts b/sources/specUtils.ts
index edd5c7e91..8b73aacd2 100644
--- a/sources/specUtils.ts
+++ b/sources/specUtils.ts
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ export async function setLocalPackageManager(cwd: string, info: PreparedPackageM
 interface FoundSpecResult {
   type: `Found`;
   target: string;
-  getSpec: () => Descriptor;
+  getSpec: (options?: {enforceExactVersion?: boolean}) => Descriptor;
   range?: Descriptor & {onFail?: DevEngineDependency[`onFail`]};
   envFilePath?: string;
 }
@@ -249,6 +249,6 @@ export async function loadSpec(initialCwd: string): Promise<LoadSpecResult> {
       onFail: selection.data.devEngines.packageManager.onFail,
     },
     // Lazy-loading it so we do not throw errors on commands that do not need valid spec.
-    getSpec: () => parseSpec(rawPmSpec, path.relative(initialCwd, selection.manifestPath)),
+    getSpec: ({enforceExactVersion = true} = {}) => parseSpec(rawPmSpec, path.relative(initialCwd, selection.manifestPath), {enforceExactVersion}),
   };
 }
diff --git a/tests/main.test.ts b/tests/main.test.ts
index 80f117673..61c1933eb 100644
--- a/tests/main.test.ts
+++ b/tests/main.test.ts
@@ -1709,3 +1709,51 @@ describe(`handle integrity checks`, () => {
     });
   });
 });
+
+describe(`allow range versions in devEngines.packageManager.version when user specifies exact version`, () => {
+  for (const {name, versionRange, userProvidedVersion} of [
+    {name: `npm`, versionRange: `^10.7.0`, userProvidedVersion: `6.14.2`},
+    {name: `yarn`, versionRange: `^2.2.0`, userProvidedVersion: `2.2.2`},
+    {name: `pnpm`, versionRange: `^5.8.0`, userProvidedVersion: `5.8.0`},
+  ]) {
+    it(`should work with ${name}`, async () => {
+      await xfs.mktempPromise(async cwd => {
+        await xfs.writeJsonPromise(ppath.join(cwd, `package.json` as Filename), {
+          devEngines: {
+            packageManager: {
+              name,
+              version: versionRange,
+            },
+          },
+        });
+
+        await expect(runCli(cwd, [`${name}@${userProvidedVersion}`, `--version`])).resolves.toMatchObject({
+          exitCode: 0,
+          stderr: ``,
+          stdout: `${userProvidedVersion}\n`,
+        });
+      });
+    });
+  }
+});
+
+it(`should still validate devEngines.packageManager.version format when no user version specified`, async () => {
+  await xfs.mktempPromise(async cwd => {
+    // When no user version is specified, range versions in devEngines should still cause error
+    await xfs.writeJsonPromise(ppath.join(cwd, `package.json` as Filename), {
+      devEngines: {
+        packageManager: {
+          name: `npm`,
+          version: `^6.14.2`,
+        },
+      },
+    });
+
+    // Without user-specified version, should still fail due to range version in devEngines
+    await expect(runCli(cwd, [`npm`, `--version`])).resolves.toMatchObject({
+      exitCode: 1,
+      stderr: expect.stringContaining(`Invalid package manager specification in package.json (npm@^6.14.2); expected a semver version`),
+      stdout: ``,
+    });
+  });
+});