diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5c475b31f8d..e3af9bc13cc 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ PROJECT := github.com/opencontainers/runc
 BUILDTAGS ?= seccomp
 
 COMMIT ?= $(shell git describe --dirty --long --always)
-VERSION ?= $(shell cat ./VERSION)
+VERSION := $(shell cat ./VERSION)
 LDFLAGS_COMMON := -X main.gitCommit=$(COMMIT) -X main.version=$(VERSION)
 
 GOARCH := $(shell $(GO) env GOARCH)