diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/jax/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/jax/default.nix
index 0450f73e639b..d41987c9a539 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/jax/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/jax/default.nix
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 { lib
 , blas
 , buildPythonPackage
+, callPackage
 , setuptools
 , importlib-metadata
 , fetchFromGitHub
@@ -126,6 +127,23 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
 
   pythonImportsCheck = [ "jax" ];
 
+  # Test CUDA-enabled jax and jaxlib. Running CUDA-enabled tests is not
+  # currently feasible within the nix build environment so we have to maintain
+  # this script separately. See https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/256230
+  # for a possible remedy to this situation.
+  #
+  # Run these tests with eg
+  #
+  #   NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1 nixglhost -- nix run --impure .#python3Packages.jax.passthru.tests.test_cuda_jaxlibBin
+  passthru.tests = {
+    test_cuda_jaxlibSource = callPackage ./test-cuda.nix {
+      jaxlib = jaxlib.override { cudaSupport = true; };
+    };
+    test_cuda_jaxlibBin = callPackage ./test-cuda.nix {
+      jaxlib = jaxlib-bin.override { cudaSupport = true; };
+    };
+  };
+
   meta = with lib; {
     description = "Differentiate, compile, and transform Numpy code";
     homepage = "https://github.com/google/jax";
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/jax/test-cuda.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/jax/test-cuda.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d156061f3849
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/jax/test-cuda.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{ jax
+, jaxlib
+, pkgs
+}:
+
+pkgs.writers.writePython3Bin "jax-test-cuda" { libraries = [ jax jaxlib ]; } ''
+  import jax
+  from jax import random
+
+  assert jax.devices()[0].platform == "gpu"
+
+  rng = random.PRNGKey(0)
+  x = random.normal(rng, (100, 100))
+  x @ x
+
+  print("success!")
+''
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/jaxlib/bin.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/jaxlib/bin.nix
index 0bcf055a8766..199b352b2aa2 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/jaxlib/bin.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/jaxlib/bin.nix
@@ -2,16 +2,7 @@
 # backend will require some additional work. Those wheels are located here:
 # https://storage.googleapis.com/jax-releases/libtpu_releases.html.
 
-# For future reference, the easiest way to test the GPU backend is to run
-#   NIX_PATH=.. nix-shell -p python3 python3Packages.jax "python3Packages.jaxlib-bin.override { cudaSupport = true; }"
-#   export XLA_FLAGS=--xla_gpu_force_compilation_parallelism=1
-#   python -c "from jax.lib import xla_bridge; assert xla_bridge.get_backend().platform == 'gpu'"
-#   python -c "from jax import random; random.PRNGKey(0)"
-#   python -c "from jax import random; x = random.normal(random.PRNGKey(0), (100, 100)); x @ x"
-# There's no convenient way to test the GPU backend in the derivation since the
-# nix build environment blocks access to the GPU. See also:
-#   * https://github.com/google/jax/issues/971#issuecomment-508216439
-#   * https://github.com/google/jax/issues/5723#issuecomment-913038780
+# See `python3Packages.jax.passthru` for CUDA tests.
 
 { absl-py
 , autoPatchelfHook
@@ -32,12 +23,21 @@
 }:
 
 let
-  inherit (cudaPackagesGoogle) autoAddOpenGLRunpathHook cudatoolkit cudnn cudaVersion;
+  inherit (cudaPackagesGoogle) autoAddOpenGLRunpathHook cudaVersion;
 
   version = "0.4.24";
 
   inherit (python) pythonVersion;
 
+  cudaLibPath = lib.makeLibraryPath (with cudaPackagesGoogle; [
+    cuda_cudart.lib # libcudart.so
+    cuda_cupti.lib # libcupti.so
+    cudnn.lib # libcudnn.so
+    libcufft.lib # libcufft.so
+    libcusolver.lib # libcusolver.so
+    libcusparse.lib # libcusparse.so
+  ]);
+
   # As of 2023-06-06, google/jax upstream is no longer publishing CPU-only wheels to their GCS bucket. Instead the
   # official instructions recommend installing CPU-only versions via PyPI.
   cpuSrcs =
@@ -189,18 +189,12 @@ buildPythonPackage {
   # autoPatchelfHook. That means we need to sneak them into rpath. This step
   # must be done after autoPatchelfHook and the automatic stripping of
   # artifacts. autoPatchelfHook runs in postFixup and auto-stripping runs in the
-  # patchPhase. Dependencies:
-  #   * libcudart.so.11.0 -> cudatoolkit_11.lib
-  #   * libcublas.so.11   -> cudatoolkit_11
-  #   * libcuda.so.1      -> opengl driver in /run/opengl-driver/lib
+  # patchPhase.
   preInstallCheck = lib.optional cudaSupport ''
     shopt -s globstar
 
     for file in $out/**/*.so; do
-      rpath=$(patchelf --print-rpath $file)
-      # For some reason `makeLibraryPath` on `cudatoolkit_11` maps to
-      # <cudatoolkit_11.lib>/lib which is different from <cudatoolkit_11>/lib.
-      patchelf --set-rpath "$rpath:${cudatoolkit}/lib:${lib.makeLibraryPath [ cudatoolkit.lib cudnn ]}" $file
+      patchelf --add-rpath "${cudaLibPath}" "$file"
     done
   '';
 
@@ -211,12 +205,14 @@ buildPythonPackage {
     scipy
   ];
 
-  # Note that cudatoolkit is snecessary since jaxlib looks for "ptxas" in $PATH.
-  # See https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/164176#discussion_r828801621 for
-  # more info.
+  # jaxlib looks for ptxas at runtime, eg when running `jax.random.PRNGKey(0)`.
+  # Linking into $out is the least bad solution. See
+  # * https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/164176#discussion_r828801621
+  # * https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/288829#discussion_r1493852211
+  # for more info.
   postInstall = lib.optional cudaSupport ''
-    mkdir -p $out/bin
-    ln -s ${cudatoolkit}/bin/ptxas $out/bin/ptxas
+    mkdir -p $out/${python.sitePackages}/jaxlib/cuda/bin
+    ln -s ${lib.getExe' cudaPackagesGoogle.cuda_nvcc "ptxas"} $out/${python.sitePackages}/jaxlib/cuda/bin/ptxas
   '';
 
   inherit (jaxlib-build) pythonImportsCheck;
@@ -229,8 +225,8 @@ buildPythonPackage {
     maintainers = with maintainers; [ samuela ];
     platforms = [ "aarch64-darwin" "x86_64-linux" "x86_64-darwin" ];
     broken =
-      !(cudaSupport -> (cudaPackagesGoogle ? cudatoolkit) && lib.versionAtLeast cudatoolkit.version "11.1")
-      || !(cudaSupport -> (cudaPackagesGoogle ? cudnn) && lib.versionAtLeast cudnn.version "8.2")
+      !(cudaSupport -> lib.versionAtLeast cudaVersion "11.1")
+      || !(cudaSupport -> lib.versionAtLeast cudaPackagesGoogle.cudnn.version "8.2")
       || !(cudaSupport -> stdenv.isLinux)
       || !(cudaSupport -> (gpuSrcs ? "cuda${cudaVersion}-${pythonVersion}"));
   };