diff --git a/build_library/set_lsb_release b/build_library/set_lsb_release
index 4ea9c6e2ea..17a85184d4 100755
--- a/build_library/set_lsb_release
+++ b/build_library/set_lsb_release
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ ID_LIKE=$OS_ID_LIKE
 VERSION=$FLATCAR_VERSION
 VERSION_ID=$FLATCAR_VERSION_ID
 BUILD_ID=$FLATCAR_BUILD_ID
+SYSEXT_LEVEL=1.0
 PRETTY_NAME="$OS_PRETTY_NAME"
 ANSI_COLOR="38;5;75"
 HOME_URL="https://flatcar-linux.org/"
diff --git a/changelog/changes/2022-03-10-sysext-level.md b/changelog/changes/2022-03-10-sysext-level.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..77f4e3d534
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/changes/2022-03-10-sysext-level.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- Defined a systemd-sysext level that sysext images can match for instead of the OS version when they don't have a strong coupling, meaning the only metadata required is `SYSEXT_LEVEL=1.0` and `ID=flatcar` ([#643](https://github.com/flatcar-linux/Flatcar/issues/643))