diff --git a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/dev-db/etcd/etcd-9999.ebuild b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/dev-db/etcd/etcd-9999.ebuild
index 8b54ea4f81..28816911ff 100644
--- a/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/dev-db/etcd/etcd-9999.ebuild
+++ b/sdk_container/src/third_party/coreos-overlay/dev-db/etcd/etcd-9999.ebuild
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ COREOS_GO_PACKAGE="github.com/coreos/etcd"
 inherit coreos-doc coreos-go toolchain-funcs cros-workon systemd
 
 if [[ "${PV}" == 9999 ]]; then
+    CROS_WORKON_COMMIT=${CROS_WORKON_COMMIT:="HEAD"}
     KEYWORDS="~amd64 ~arm64"
 else
     CROS_WORKON_COMMIT="05b564a39413a9debafb24420de87febf34fa013" # v2.2.3