diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 94b9a3c341f..0fc9923e4f2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ BUILDTAGS ?= seccomp urfave_cli_no_docs
 BUILDTAGS += $(EXTRA_BUILDTAGS)
 
 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)