diff --git a/compiler/backend/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/codegen/ClassFileFactory.java b/compiler/backend/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/codegen/ClassFileFactory.java
index 8e22a03355f..20e5632f3e4 100644
--- a/compiler/backend/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/codegen/ClassFileFactory.java
+++ b/compiler/backend/src/org/jetbrains/kotlin/codegen/ClassFileFactory.java
@@ -29,9 +29,12 @@ import org.jetbrains.kotlin.backend.common.output.OutputFileCollection;
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.codegen.extensions.ClassFileFactoryFinalizerExtension;
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.codegen.state.GenerationState;
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.config.JvmAnalysisFlags;
+import org.jetbrains.kotlin.config.LanguageVersion;
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.load.kotlin.ModuleMappingUtilKt;
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.metadata.ProtoBuf;
+import org.jetbrains.kotlin.metadata.deserialization.BinaryVersion;
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.metadata.jvm.JvmModuleProtoBuf;
+import org.jetbrains.kotlin.metadata.jvm.deserialization.JvmMetadataVersion;
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.metadata.jvm.deserialization.ModuleMapping;
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.metadata.jvm.deserialization.ModuleMappingKt;
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.metadata.jvm.deserialization.PackageParts;
@@ -144,7 +147,7 @@ public class ClassFileFactory implements OutputFileCollection {
                 if (state.getLanguageVersionSettings().getFlag(JvmAnalysisFlags.getStrictMetadataVersionSemantics())) {
                     flags |= ModuleMapping.STRICT_METADATA_VERSION_SEMANTICS_FLAG;
                 }
-                return ModuleMappingKt.serializeToByteArray(moduleProto, state.getConfig().getMetadataVersion(), flags);
+                return ModuleMappingKt.serializeToByteArray(moduleProto, getMetadataVersionToUseForModuleMapping(), flags);
             }
 
             @Override
@@ -154,6 +157,31 @@ public class ClassFileFactory implements OutputFileCollection {
         });
     }
 
+    @NotNull
+    private BinaryVersion getMetadataVersionToUseForModuleMapping() {
+        BinaryVersion version = state.getConfig().getMetadataVersion();
+        if (version.getMajor() == LanguageVersion.KOTLIN_2_0.getMajor() &&
+            version.getMinor() == LanguageVersion.KOTLIN_2_0.getMinor()) {
+            // If language version is >= 2.0, we're using metadata version 1.9.*. This is needed because before Kotlin 1.8.20-RC, there was
+            // a bug in determining whether module metadata is written in the pre-1.4 format, or in the 1.4+ format with an extra integer
+            // for module-wide flags (see https://github.com/jetbrains/kotlin/commit/25c600c556a5).
+            //
+            // Normally it should not be possible to suffer from it because we have only one version forward compatibility on JVM. However,
+            // with `-Xskip-metadata-version-check`, which is used in Gradle, pre-1.8.20-RC Kotlin compilers were trying to read the 2.0
+            // module metadata in the wrong format and failed with an exception: KT-62531.
+            //
+            // Since module metadata is not supposed to have any changes in 2.0, we're using the metadata version 1.9 as a workaround. This
+            // way, it's still written in the 1.4+ format, and old compilers will correctly understand that it's written in the 1.4+ format.
+            //
+            // Patch version does not affect anything, so we can use any number, for example 9999 to make it more recognizable that it's
+            // not a real Kotlin version, and rather a substitute for the 2.0 metadata version.
+            //
+            // This workaround can be removed once we no longer support language version 2.0.
+            return new JvmMetadataVersion(1, 9, 9999);
+        }
+        return version;
+    }
+
     @NotNull
     @Override
     public List<OutputFile> asList() {
diff --git a/compiler/tests/org/jetbrains/kotlin/jvm/compiler/AbstractCompileKotlinAgainstCustomBinariesTest.kt b/compiler/tests/org/jetbrains/kotlin/jvm/compiler/AbstractCompileKotlinAgainstCustomBinariesTest.kt
index 20c7163dd01..32f99044f65 100644
--- a/compiler/tests/org/jetbrains/kotlin/jvm/compiler/AbstractCompileKotlinAgainstCustomBinariesTest.kt
+++ b/compiler/tests/org/jetbrains/kotlin/jvm/compiler/AbstractCompileKotlinAgainstCustomBinariesTest.kt
@@ -387,8 +387,12 @@ abstract class AbstractCompileKotlinAgainstCustomBinariesTest : AbstractKotlinCo
             val moduleFile = File(tmpdir.absolutePath, "META-INF/main.kotlin_module").readBytes()
             val versionNumber = ModuleMapping.readVersionNumber(DataInputStream(ByteArrayInputStream(moduleFile)))!!
             val moduleVersion = JvmMetadataVersion(*versionNumber)
-            assertEquals("Actual version: $moduleVersion", expectedMajor, moduleVersion.major)
-            assertEquals("Actual version: $moduleVersion", expectedMinor, moduleVersion.minor)
+            if (languageVersion == LanguageVersion.KOTLIN_2_0) {
+                assertEquals("Actual version: $moduleVersion", JvmMetadataVersion(1, 9, 9999), moduleVersion)
+            } else {
+                assertEquals("Actual version: $moduleVersion", expectedMajor, moduleVersion.major)
+                assertEquals("Actual version: $moduleVersion", expectedMinor, moduleVersion.minor)
+            }
         }
     }