diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-upgrader.c b/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-upgrader.c
index 8fb231a3..46813358 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-upgrader.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-upgrader.c
@@ -530,8 +530,8 @@ ostree_sysroot_upgrader_pull_one_dir (OstreeSysrootUpgrader  *self,
                              g_variant_new_variant (g_variant_new_int32 (flags)));
       /* Add the timestamp check, unless disabled */
       if ((upgrader_flags & OSTREE_SYSROOT_UPGRADER_PULL_FLAGS_ALLOW_OLDER) == 0)
-        g_variant_builder_add (optbuilder, "{s@v}", "timestamp-check",
-                               g_variant_new_variant (g_variant_new_boolean (TRUE)));
+        g_variant_builder_add (optbuilder, "{s@v}", "timestamp-check-from-rev",
+                               g_variant_new_variant (g_variant_new_string (from_revision)));
 
       g_variant_builder_add (optbuilder, "{s@v}", "refs",
                              g_variant_new_variant (g_variant_new_strv ((const char *const*) refs_to_fetch, -1)));
diff --git a/tests/admin-test.sh b/tests/admin-test.sh
index 11b9ea14..03b455a3 100644
--- a/tests/admin-test.sh
+++ b/tests/admin-test.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
-echo "1..$((27 + ${extra_admin_tests:-0}))"
+echo "1..$((28 + ${extra_admin_tests:-0}))"
 
 mkdir sysrootmin
 ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree admin init-fs --modern sysrootmin
@@ -304,8 +304,14 @@ ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree pull --repo=sysroot/ostree/repo --commit-metadata-only --de
 head_rev=$(${CMD_PREFIX} ostree rev-parse --repo=sysroot/ostree/repo testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime)
 prev_rev=$(${CMD_PREFIX} ostree rev-parse --repo=sysroot/ostree/repo testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime^^^^)
 assert_not_streq ${head_rev} ${prev_rev}
+# check that we can't "upgrade" to an older commit without --allow-downgrade
+if ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree admin upgrade --os=testos --override-commit=${prev_rev} 2> err.txt; then
+    fatal "downgraded without --allow-downgrade?"
+fi
+assert_file_has_content err.txt "Upgrade.*is chronologically older"
 ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree admin upgrade --os=testos --override-commit=${prev_rev} --allow-downgrade
 curr_rev=$(${CMD_PREFIX} ostree rev-parse --repo=sysroot/ostree/repo testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime)
+
 assert_streq ${curr_rev} ${prev_rev}
 ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree admin upgrade --os=testos
 curr_rev=$(${CMD_PREFIX} ostree rev-parse --repo=sysroot/ostree/repo testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime)
@@ -313,6 +319,18 @@ assert_streq ${curr_rev} ${head_rev}
 
 echo "ok upgrade with and without override-commit"
 
+# check that we can still upgrade to a rev that's not the tip of the branch but
+# that's still newer than the deployment
+sleep 1
+os_repository_new_commit
+sleep 1
+os_repository_new_commit
+${CMD_PREFIX} ostree pull --repo=sysroot/ostree/repo --commit-metadata-only --depth=-1 testos:testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime
+curr_rev=$(${CMD_PREFIX} ostree rev-parse --repo=sysroot/ostree/repo testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime)
+prev_rev=$(${CMD_PREFIX} ostree rev-parse --repo=sysroot/ostree/repo testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime^)
+${CMD_PREFIX} ostree admin upgrade --os=testos --override-commit=${prev_rev}
+echo "ok upgrade to newer version older than branch tip"
+
 ${CMD_PREFIX} ostree --repo=${test_tmpdir}/testos-repo commit  --add-metadata-string "version=${version}" \
               --add-metadata-string 'ostree.source-title=libtest os_repository_new_commit()' -b testos/buildmaster/x86_64-runtime \
               -s "Build" --tree=dir=${test_tmpdir}/osdata