diff --git a/ci-automation/ci_automation_common.sh b/ci-automation/ci_automation_common.sh
index 412bb4ac7a..ac71b04ffe 100644
--- a/ci-automation/ci_automation_common.sh
+++ b/ci-automation/ci_automation_common.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ function check_version_string() {
 
 function update_and_push_version() {
     local version="$1"
-    local push_to_branch="${2:-false}"
+    local target_branch="${2:-}"
 
     # set up author and email so git does not complain when tagging
     if ! git config --get user.name >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
@@ -64,9 +64,8 @@ function update_and_push_version() {
 
     git tag -f "${TAG_ARGS[@]}" "${version}"
 
-    if [ "${push_to_branch}" = "true" ]; then
-      local branch="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"
-      git push origin "${branch}"
+    if [[ -n "${target_branch}" ]]; then
+      git push origin "HEAD:${target_branch}"
     fi
 
     git push origin "${version}"
diff --git a/ci-automation/packages-tag.sh b/ci-automation/packages-tag.sh
index 2faa0dc8f8..2a7408e817 100644
--- a/ci-automation/packages-tag.sh
+++ b/ci-automation/packages-tag.sh
@@ -68,11 +68,11 @@ function _packages_tag_impl() {
 
     # Create new tag in scripts repo w/ updated versionfile
     # Also push the changes to the branch ONLY IF we're doing a nightly
-    #   build of the 'main'/'flatcar-MAJOR' branch AND we're definitely ON the respective branch
-    local push_branch="false"
+    #   build of the 'flatcar-MAJOR' branch AND we're definitely ON the respective branch
+    local target_branch=''
     if    [[ "${version}" =~ ^(stable|alpha|beta|lts)-[0-9.]+-nightly-[-0-9]+$ ]] \
        && [[ "$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)" =~ ^flatcar-[0-9]+$ ]] ; then
-        push_branch="true"
+        target_branch="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"
         local existing_tag=""
         # Check for the existing tag only when we allow shortcutting
         # the builds. That way we can skip the checks for build
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ function _packages_tag_impl() {
       source sdk_lib/sdk_container_common.sh
       create_versionfile "$sdk_version" "$version"
     )
-    update_and_push_version "${version}" "${push_branch}"
+    update_and_push_version "${version}" "${target_branch}"
     apply_local_patches
 }
 # --
diff --git a/ci-automation/sdk_bootstrap.sh b/ci-automation/sdk_bootstrap.sh
index a270747c04..8b9c719ffc 100644
--- a/ci-automation/sdk_bootstrap.sh
+++ b/ci-automation/sdk_bootstrap.sh
@@ -78,10 +78,10 @@ function _sdk_bootstrap_impl() {
     # Also push the changes to the branch ONLY IF we're doing a nightly
     #   build of the 'main' branch AND we're definitely ON the main branch.
     #   This includes intermediate SDKs when doing 2-phase nightly builds.
-    local push_branch="false"
+    local target_branch=''
     if   [[ "${version}" =~ ^main-[0-9.]+-nightly-[-0-9]+(-INTERMEDIATE)?$ ]] \
-       && [ "$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)" = "main"  ] ; then
-        push_branch="true"
+       && [ "$(git rev-parse HEAD)" = "$(git rev-parse origin/main)"  ] ; then
+        target_branch='main'
         local existing_tag=""
         # Check for the existing tag only when we allow shortcutting
         # the builds. That way we can skip the checks for build
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ function _sdk_bootstrap_impl() {
       source sdk_lib/sdk_container_common.sh
       create_versionfile "${vernum}"
     )
-    update_and_push_version "${version}" "${push_branch}"
+    update_and_push_version "${version}" "${target_branch}"
     apply_local_patches
 
     ./bootstrap_sdk_container -x ./ci-cleanup.sh "${seed_version}" "${vernum}"