diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index b132527d5c..4a7492079f 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 3.11.16
 Merged from 3.0:
+ * Validate the existence of a datacenter in nodetool rebuild (CASSANDRA-14319)
  * Suppress CVE-2023-2251 (CASSANDRA-18497)
 
 3.11.15
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
index 701dd26da2..ba5ebc0dd0 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java
@@ -1358,16 +1358,35 @@ public class StorageService extends NotificationBroadcasterSupport implements IE
 
     public void rebuild(String sourceDc, String keyspace, String tokens, String specificSources)
     {
-        // check ongoing rebuild
-        if (!isRebuilding.compareAndSet(false, true))
+        try
         {
-            throw new IllegalStateException("Node is still rebuilding. Check nodetool netstats.");
-        }
+            // check ongoing rebuild
+            if (!isRebuilding.compareAndSet(false, true))
+            {
+                throw new IllegalStateException("Node is still rebuilding. Check nodetool netstats.");
+            }
 
-        // check the arguments
-        if (keyspace == null && tokens != null)
+            if (sourceDc != null)
+            {
+                TokenMetadata.Topology topology = getTokenMetadata().cloneOnlyTokenMap().getTopology();
+                Set<String> availableDCs = topology.getDatacenterEndpoints().keySet();
+                if (!availableDCs.contains(sourceDc))
+                {
+                    throw new IllegalArgumentException(String.format("Provided datacenter '%s' is not a valid datacenter, available datacenters are: %s",
+                                                                     sourceDc, String.join(",", availableDCs)));
+                }
+            }
+
+            // check the arguments
+            if (keyspace == null && tokens != null)
+            {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot specify tokens without keyspace.");
+            }
+        }
+        catch (Throwable ex)
         {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Cannot specify tokens without keyspace.");
+            isRebuilding.set(false);
+            throw ex;
         }
 
         logger.info("rebuild from dc: {}, {}, {}", sourceDc == null ? "(any dc)" : sourceDc,
diff --git a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageServiceServerTest.java b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageServiceServerTest.java
index d5ab214340..33bdcebf70 100644
--- a/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageServiceServerTest.java
+++ b/test/unit/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageServiceServerTest.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import java.util.Random;
 import java.util.UUID;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.HashMultimap;
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMultimap;
 import com.google.common.collect.Multimap;
 
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
@@ -60,9 +61,11 @@ import org.apache.cassandra.schema.KeyspaceParams;
 import org.apache.cassandra.schema.ReplicationParams;
 import org.apache.cassandra.schema.SchemaKeyspaceTables;
 import org.apache.cassandra.utils.FBUtilities;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 import static org.junit.Assume.assumeTrue;
 
 @RunWith(OrderedJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
@@ -599,4 +602,57 @@ public class StorageServiceServerTest
         repairRangeFrom = StorageService.instance.createRepairRangeFrom("2000", "2000");
         assert repairRangeFrom.size() == 0;
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testRebuildFailOnNonExistingDatacenter() throws Exception
+    {
+        String nonExistentDC = "NON_EXISTENT_DC";
+
+        try
+        {
+            getStorageService().rebuild(nonExistentDC, "StorageServiceServerTest", null, null);
+            fail();
+        }
+        catch (IllegalArgumentException ex)
+        {
+            assertEquals(String.format("Provided datacenter '%s' is not a valid datacenter, available datacenters are: %s",
+                                       nonExistentDC,
+                                       "datacenter1"),
+                         ex.getMessage());
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testRebuildingWithTokensWithoutKeyspace() throws Exception
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            getStorageService().rebuild("datacenter1", null, "123", null);
+            fail();
+        }
+        catch (IllegalArgumentException ex)
+        {
+            assertEquals("Cannot specify tokens without keyspace.", ex.getMessage());
+        }
+    }
+
+    private StorageService getStorageService() throws Exception
+    {
+        ImmutableMultimap.Builder<String, InetAddress> builder = ImmutableMultimap.builder();
+        builder.put("datacenter1", InetAddress.getByName("127.0.0.1"));
+
+        TokenMetadata.Topology tokenMetadataTopology = Mockito.mock(TokenMetadata.Topology.class);
+        Mockito.when(tokenMetadataTopology.getDatacenterEndpoints()).thenReturn(builder.build());
+
+        TokenMetadata metadata = new TokenMetadata();
+        TokenMetadata spiedMetadata = Mockito.spy(metadata);
+
+        Mockito.when(spiedMetadata.getTopology()).thenReturn(tokenMetadataTopology);
+
+        StorageService spiedStorageService = Mockito.spy(StorageService.instance);
+        Mockito.when(spiedStorageService.getTokenMetadata()).thenReturn(spiedMetadata);
+        Mockito.when(spiedMetadata.cloneOnlyTokenMap()).thenReturn(spiedMetadata);
+
+        return spiedStorageService;
+    }
 }