diff --git a/Dockerfile.universal b/Dockerfile.universal
index c9f71c603a..95e36ae71a 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.universal
+++ b/Dockerfile.universal
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ USER root
 # or run `npx playwright@<version> install-deps --dry-run` to diff. (Tracked
 # only via this comment, not an ARG, since the apt package names are hardcoded
 # below and a build-arg override would silently disagree with what's installed.)
-ARG GO_VERSION=1.26.0
+ARG GO_VERSION=1.26.3
 ARG GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION=1.62.0
 ARG PNPM_VERSION=9.15.9
 
@@ -78,11 +78,12 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 # Go toolchain - tarball install to /usr/local/go (the standard layout the
 # go.dev installer creates). Add to PATH below.
 #
-# Integrity: go.dev publishes a per-tarball `.sha256` file (a bare hex hash,
-# no filename), fetched alongside the tarball and verified before extraction.
-# This is TOFU on first fetch; if the go.dev CDN itself is compromised both
-# files are bad. Strongest available option without bumping the hash inline
-# every Go release.
+# Integrity: go.dev's `?mode=json&include=all` endpoint lists every released
+# version with a per-file `sha256` field. We fetch that index, pick the SHA
+# for our tarball, and verify before extraction. (The `.sha256` sidecar URLs
+# that look like they should work redirect to the HTML downloads page, so
+# they cannot be used here.) This is TOFU on first fetch; if go.dev itself
+# is compromised both the JSON and the tarball are bad.
 RUN set -eux; \
     arch="$(dpkg --print-architecture)"; \
     case "$arch" in \
@@ -90,11 +91,18 @@ RUN set -eux; \
         arm64) goarch=arm64 ;; \
         *) echo "unsupported arch: $arch" >&2; exit 1 ;; \
     esac; \
-    curl -fsSL "https://go.dev/dl/go${GO_VERSION}.linux-${goarch}.tar.gz" -o /tmp/go.tar.gz; \
-    curl -fsSL "https://go.dev/dl/go${GO_VERSION}.linux-${goarch}.tar.gz.sha256" -o /tmp/go.tar.gz.sha256; \
-    echo "$(cat /tmp/go.tar.gz.sha256)  /tmp/go.tar.gz" | sha256sum -c -; \
+    tarball="go${GO_VERSION}.linux-${goarch}.tar.gz"; \
+    expected="$(curl -fsSL 'https://go.dev/dl/?mode=json&include=all' \
+        | jq -r --arg v "go${GO_VERSION}" --arg f "${tarball}" \
+            'first(.[] | select(.version == $v) | .files[] | select(.filename == $f) | .sha256)')"; \
+    if [ -z "$expected" ]; then \
+        echo "no upstream sha256 for ${tarball} at version ${GO_VERSION}" >&2; \
+        exit 1; \
+    fi; \
+    curl -fsSL "https://go.dev/dl/${tarball}" -o /tmp/go.tar.gz; \
+    echo "${expected}  /tmp/go.tar.gz" | sha256sum -c -; \
     tar -C /usr/local -xzf /tmp/go.tar.gz; \
-    rm /tmp/go.tar.gz /tmp/go.tar.gz.sha256
+    rm /tmp/go.tar.gz
 
 # golangci-lint - prebuilt binary, no compilation needed.
 # Integrity: each release publishes a single `*-checksums.txt` file with
@@ -131,7 +139,10 @@ RUN set -eux; \
 #
 # Integrity: download rustup-init for our arch and verify its SHA-256
 # against the upstream .sha256 sidecar before executing - matches the
-# pattern used for Go/golangci-lint/yq above, rather than `curl | sh`.
+# pattern used for golangci-lint/yq above, rather than `curl | sh`.
+# (Go uses the JSON release index instead - go.dev doesn't actually
+# publish per-tarball .sha256 sidecars despite the URL pattern looking
+# like it would work.)
 ENV RUSTUP_HOME=/usr/local/rustup \
     CARGO_HOME=/usr/local/cargo
 RUN set -eux; \