diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/providers/dml/DmlExecutionProvider/src/Operators/DmlOperatorElementWise.cpp b/onnxruntime/core/providers/dml/DmlExecutionProvider/src/Operators/DmlOperatorElementWise.cpp
index 428ebffe67..21023debf9 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/providers/dml/DmlExecutionProvider/src/Operators/DmlOperatorElementWise.cpp
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/providers/dml/DmlExecutionProvider/src/Operators/DmlOperatorElementWise.cpp
@@ -508,18 +508,19 @@ public:
         Initialize(kernelInfo, std::nullopt, std::nullopt);
 
         uint32_t axis = 0;
-        uint32_t broadcastAxisLength = 0;
 
         // If an axis was given explicitly passed (or the default value 1 is set from the schema),
         // then other inputs are broadcasting to the shape of the input data tensor.
         if (kernelInfo.HasAttribute(AttrName::Axis, MLOperatorAttributeType::Int))
         {
+            // Avoid validating the axis until later because the axis parameter is ignorable unless
+            // broadcasting is actually needed. ONNX opset 13 returns a default value of 1 for the
+            // "axis" attribute even when the attribute doesn't actually exist in the model, which
+            // would cause a validation failure here.
             const int32_t signedAxis = gsl::narrow_cast<int32_t>(kernelInfo.GetAttribute<int64_t>(AttrName::Axis));
-            axis = Dml::HandleNegativeAxis(signedAxis, outputShapeDimCount);
-            broadcastAxisLength = outputShape[axis];
+            axis = Dml::HandleNegativeAxis(signedAxis, outputShapeDimCount, /*validateAxis*/ false);
         }
 
-
         // Explicitly reshape each of the inputs after the first input (scale and zero point tensors).
         for (uint32_t index = 1, inputCount = gsl::narrow_cast<uint32_t>(m_inputTensorDescs.size()); index < inputCount; ++index)
         {
@@ -535,6 +536,8 @@ public:
             // The 1D vector should have a length equal to the output tensor's dimension on that axis.
             if (inputTensorShape.size() == 1 && inputTensorShape != outputShape)
             {
+                ML_CHECK_VALID_ARGUMENT(axis < outputShapeDimCount);
+                uint32_t broadcastAxisLength = outputShape[axis];
                 ML_CHECK_VALID_ARGUMENT(inputTensorShape[0] == broadcastAxisLength);
                 inputTensorShape.insert(inputTensorShape.begin(), axis, 1);
                 inputTensorShape.insert(inputTensorShape.end(), outputShapeDimCount - 1 - axis, 1);
diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/providers/dml/OperatorAuthorHelper/OperatorHelper.cpp b/onnxruntime/core/providers/dml/OperatorAuthorHelper/OperatorHelper.cpp
index 9169028ae1..7ac27f6598 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/providers/dml/OperatorAuthorHelper/OperatorHelper.cpp
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/providers/dml/OperatorAuthorHelper/OperatorHelper.cpp
@@ -13,14 +13,14 @@ namespace OperatorHelper
 
     // Convert any negative axis into an absolute axis relative to the back end.
     // So given 3 dimensions, a -1 refers to axis 2, and -3 to axis 0.
-    uint32_t HandleNegativeAxis(int32_t signedOnnxAxis, uint32_t dimCount)
+    uint32_t HandleNegativeAxis(int32_t signedOnnxAxis, uint32_t dimCount, bool validateAxis)
     {
         if (signedOnnxAxis < 0)
         {
             signedOnnxAxis += dimCount;
         }
         uint32_t absoluteAxis = gsl::narrow_cast<uint32_t>(signedOnnxAxis);
-        ML_CHECK_VALID_ARGUMENT(absoluteAxis < dimCount);
+        ML_CHECK_VALID_ARGUMENT(!validateAxis || absoluteAxis < dimCount);
         return absoluteAxis;
     }
 
diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/providers/dml/OperatorAuthorHelper/OperatorHelper.h b/onnxruntime/core/providers/dml/OperatorAuthorHelper/OperatorHelper.h
index 0093160a6a..f060cbdc8b 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/providers/dml/OperatorAuthorHelper/OperatorHelper.h
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/providers/dml/OperatorAuthorHelper/OperatorHelper.h
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ void FindValueIndices(gsl::span<const T> values, T value, /*out*/ std::vector<ui
 
 // Convert any negative axis into an absolute axis relative to the back end.
 // So given 3 dimensions, a -1 refers to axis 2, and -3 to axis 0.
-uint32_t HandleNegativeAxis(int32_t signedOnnxAxis, uint32_t dimCount);
+uint32_t HandleNegativeAxis(int32_t signedOnnxAxis, uint32_t dimCount, bool validateAxis = true);
 
 void HandleNegativeAxes(gsl::span<int32_t> onnxAxes, uint32_t dimCount);