diff --git a/lib/sdk-installer.js b/lib/sdk-installer.js
index feb6eb266..7931e7f61 100644
--- a/lib/sdk-installer.js
+++ b/lib/sdk-installer.js
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ const io = __importStar(require("@actions/io"));
 const tc = __importStar(require("@actions/tool-cache"));
 const fs = __importStar(require("fs"));
 const BUILD_TOOLS_VERSION = '35.0.0';
-// SDK command-line tools 16.0
+const CMDLINE_TOOLS_VERSION = '16.0'; // the downloads immediately below should correspond to this version
 const CMDLINE_TOOLS_URL_MAC = 'https://dl.google.com/android/repository/commandlinetools-mac-12266719_latest.zip';
 const CMDLINE_TOOLS_URL_LINUX = 'https://dl.google.com/android/repository/commandlinetools-linux-12266719_latest.zip';
 /**
@@ -58,7 +58,18 @@ function installAndroidSdk(apiLevel, target, arch, channelId, emulatorBuild, ndk
                 yield exec.exec(`sh -c \\"sudo chown $USER:$USER ${process.env.ANDROID_HOME}/build-tools/${BUILD_TOOLS_VERSION} -R`);
             }
             const cmdlineToolsPath = `${process.env.ANDROID_HOME}/cmdline-tools`;
-            if (!fs.existsSync(cmdlineToolsPath)) {
+            // it may happen that cmdlineToolsPath exists, but is older than desired
+            if (fs.existsSync(cmdlineToolsPath)) {
+                const cmdlineToolsVer = (yield exec.getExecOutput(`sh -c "${cmdlineToolsPath}/latest/bin/sdkmanager --version"`)).stdout.trim();
+                if (!cmdlineToolsVer.includes(CMDLINE_TOOLS_VERSION)) {
+                    console.log(`latest cmdline-tools is version ${cmdlineToolsVer} instead of ${CMDLINE_TOOLS_VERSION}. Removing.`);
+                    yield exec.exec(`sh -c \\"rm -fr ${cmdlineToolsPath}/latest"`);
+                }
+                else {
+                    console.log(`latest cmdline-tools is expected version ${CMDLINE_TOOLS_VERSION}: "${cmdlineToolsVer}"`);
+                }
+            }
+            if (!fs.existsSync(`${cmdlineToolsPath}/latest`)) {
                 console.log('Installing new cmdline-tools.');
                 const sdkUrl = isOnMac ? CMDLINE_TOOLS_URL_MAC : CMDLINE_TOOLS_URL_LINUX;
                 const downloadPath = yield tc.downloadTool(sdkUrl);
diff --git a/src/sdk-installer.ts b/src/sdk-installer.ts
index 5c7a0f2c7..97ac2f656 100644
--- a/src/sdk-installer.ts
+++ b/src/sdk-installer.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import * as tc from '@actions/tool-cache';
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 
 const BUILD_TOOLS_VERSION = '35.0.0';
-// SDK command-line tools 16.0
+const CMDLINE_TOOLS_VERSION = '16.0'; // the downloads immediately below should correspond to this version
 const CMDLINE_TOOLS_URL_MAC = 'https://dl.google.com/android/repository/commandlinetools-mac-12266719_latest.zip';
 const CMDLINE_TOOLS_URL_LINUX = 'https://dl.google.com/android/repository/commandlinetools-linux-12266719_latest.zip';
 
@@ -26,7 +26,19 @@ export async function installAndroidSdk(apiLevel: string, target: string, arch:
     }
 
     const cmdlineToolsPath = `${process.env.ANDROID_HOME}/cmdline-tools`;
-    if (!fs.existsSync(cmdlineToolsPath)) {
+
+    // it may happen that cmdlineToolsPath exists, but is older than desired
+    if (fs.existsSync(cmdlineToolsPath)) {
+      const cmdlineToolsVer = (await exec.getExecOutput(`sh -c "${cmdlineToolsPath}/latest/bin/sdkmanager --version"`)).stdout.trim();
+      if (!cmdlineToolsVer.includes(CMDLINE_TOOLS_VERSION)) {
+        console.log(`latest cmdline-tools is version ${cmdlineToolsVer} instead of ${CMDLINE_TOOLS_VERSION}. Removing.`);
+        await exec.exec(`sh -c \\"rm -fr ${cmdlineToolsPath}/latest"`);
+      } else {
+        console.log(`latest cmdline-tools is expected version ${CMDLINE_TOOLS_VERSION}: "${cmdlineToolsVer}"`);
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (!fs.existsSync(`${cmdlineToolsPath}/latest`)) {
       console.log('Installing new cmdline-tools.');
       const sdkUrl = isOnMac ? CMDLINE_TOOLS_URL_MAC : CMDLINE_TOOLS_URL_LINUX;
       const downloadPath = await tc.downloadTool(sdkUrl);