diff --git a/.github/workflows/distcheck.yml b/.github/workflows/distcheck.yml
index f070d907a0..c9682d92bc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/distcheck.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/distcheck.yml
@@ -392,8 +392,8 @@ jobs:
       - name: 'download and verify tarballs'
         run: |
           echo "--- Detecting latest curl tarball version..."
-          curl_version="$(curl --disable --fail --silent --show-error --connect-timeout 15 --max-time 60 --retry 3 --retry-connrefused https://curl.se/info \
-            | grep -a1 '^Version:' | grep -o -E '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+')"
+          curl_version="$(curl --disable --fail --silent --show-error --connect-timeout 15 --max-time 60 --retry 3 --retry-connrefused https://curl.se/info.json \
+            | jq --raw-output .Version)"
 
           for suffix in .tar.bz2 .tar.gz .tar.xz .zip; do
             echo "--- Downloading ${curl_version} ${suffix}..."