diff --git a/db/migrate/20250224231330_add_project_id_to_merge_request_diff_files.rb b/db/migrate/20250224231330_add_project_id_to_merge_request_diff_files.rb
index c3efa0dabe8ea117def2144026ac358528b129ba..d4a02faf30c0c2c03c3cf3c5f983110d6550e983 100644
--- a/db/migrate/20250224231330_add_project_id_to_merge_request_diff_files.rb
+++ b/db/migrate/20250224231330_add_project_id_to_merge_request_diff_files.rb
@@ -16,7 +16,13 @@ def up
       add_column SOURCE_TABLE, :project_id, :bigint, if_not_exists: true
     end
 
-    add_concurrent_foreign_key SOURCE_TABLE, :projects, column: :project_id, on_delete: :cascade
+    # This caused the incident https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/gl-infra/production/-/issues/19474
+    # We must first add the index before adding a foreign key. We also explicitly removed it in
+    # db/post_migrate/20250312061803_remove_project_id_fk_from_merge_request_diff_files.rb to clean up any installations
+    # that ran this.
+    #
+    # no-op:
+    # add_concurrent_foreign_key SOURCE_TABLE, :projects, column: :project_id, on_delete: :cascade
   end
 
   def down
diff --git a/db/migrate/20250312061803_remove_project_id_fk_from_merge_request_diff_files.rb b/db/migrate/20250312061803_remove_project_id_fk_from_merge_request_diff_files.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..705cbf8e2f5a6de2d3bfc156f634c5798dcda2be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20250312061803_remove_project_id_fk_from_merge_request_diff_files.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+class RemoveProjectIdFkFromMergeRequestDiffFiles < Gitlab::Database::Migration[2.2]
+  milestone '17.10'
+
+  disable_ddl_transaction!
+
+  FK_NAME = 'fk_0e3ba01603'
+
+  def up
+    with_lock_retries do
+      remove_foreign_key_if_exists(:merge_request_diff_files, :projects, name: FK_NAME, reverse_lock_order: true)
+    end
+  end
+
+  def down
+    # no-op
+    # we won't add this again, as it may create problems without an index
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema_migrations/20250312061803 b/db/schema_migrations/20250312061803
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..c8518ffaa1147876bf3930b9475b5a321e90e5ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/schema_migrations/20250312061803
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+c643bd5a8781d57cf943170020f44972ad0e06faa1f602b80409eea7704310ee
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/structure.sql b/db/structure.sql
index 893f765bddbc428cc0ec549bc9d1f648856de5a9..e320d2edfdfe823a1c3f898ccb49632f09ad2469 100644
--- a/db/structure.sql
+++ b/db/structure.sql
@@ -39401,9 +39401,6 @@ ALTER TABLE ONLY subscription_user_add_on_assignments
 ALTER TABLE ONLY approval_project_rules_users
     ADD CONSTRAINT fk_0dfcd9e339 FOREIGN KEY (project_id) REFERENCES projects(id) ON DELETE CASCADE;
 
-ALTER TABLE ONLY merge_request_diff_files
-    ADD CONSTRAINT fk_0e3ba01603 FOREIGN KEY (project_id) REFERENCES projects(id) ON DELETE CASCADE;
-
 ALTER TABLE ONLY ci_runner_projects
     ADD CONSTRAINT fk_0e743433ff FOREIGN KEY (runner_id) REFERENCES ci_runners_archived(id) ON DELETE CASCADE;
 
diff --git a/spec/db/schema_spec.rb b/spec/db/schema_spec.rb
index 7e5ee95a09b770ffd14541c3f91d40d434e2bae8..71e1bcaa45a32f38d325e9ca5886a351f6217077 100644
--- a/spec/db/schema_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/db/schema_spec.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
       ci_sources_pipelines: [%w[source_partition_id source_pipeline_id], %w[partition_id pipeline_id]],
       ci_sources_projects: [%w[partition_id pipeline_id]], # index on pipeline_id is sufficient
       ci_stages: [%w[partition_id pipeline_id]], # the index on pipeline_id is sufficient
-      merge_request_diff_files: [%w[project_id]], # async index to be created - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/523103
       notes: %w[namespace_id], # this index is added in an async manner, hence it needs to be ignored in the first phase.
       p_ci_build_trace_metadata: [%w[partition_id build_id], %w[partition_id trace_artifact_id]], # the index on build_id is enough
       p_ci_builds: [%w[partition_id stage_id], %w[partition_id execution_config_id], %w[auto_canceled_by_partition_id auto_canceled_by_id], %w[upstream_pipeline_partition_id upstream_pipeline_id], %w[partition_id commit_id]], # https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/142804#note_1745483081
@@ -172,6 +171,7 @@
       merge_request_cleanup_schedules: %w[project_id],
       merge_requests_compliance_violations: %w[target_project_id],
       merge_request_diffs: %w[project_id],
+      merge_request_diff_files: %w[project_id],
       merge_request_diff_commits: %w[commit_author_id committer_id],
       # merge_request_diff_commits_b5377a7a34 is the temporary table for the merge_request_diff_commits partitioning
       # backfill. It will get foreign keys after the partitioning is finished.