This seems like a form element level validator would fix this by verifing that only a single new file is being posted. Perhaps compare to existing files added to the field, and make sure only one new file is added at a time.
They need to be able to upload another file on the next update, so setting it to one doesn't work.--You can set maximum number of values users can enter for this field to be one.Go to admin >> select the field from content type >> update the number of valuesIf you want to keep this settings as unlimited then you can use form validation function.
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