diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-kata-static-tarball-amd64.yaml b/.github/workflows/build-kata-static-tarball-amd64.yaml
index f0f606850..869d49bc6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-kata-static-tarball-amd64.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-kata-static-tarball-amd64.yaml
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ jobs:
           path: kata-artifacts
       - name: merge-artifacts
         run: |
-          ./tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh kata-artifacts
+          ./tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh kata-artifacts versions.yaml
       - name: store-artifacts
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
         with:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-kata-static-tarball-arm64.yaml b/.github/workflows/build-kata-static-tarball-arm64.yaml
index 2ad97a0ba..85d7bd18b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-kata-static-tarball-arm64.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-kata-static-tarball-arm64.yaml
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ jobs:
           path: kata-artifacts
       - name: merge-artifacts
         run: |
-          ./tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh kata-artifacts
+          ./tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh kata-artifacts versions.yaml
       - name: store-artifacts
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
         with:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-kata-static-tarball-s390x.yaml b/.github/workflows/build-kata-static-tarball-s390x.yaml
index cf2831033..8c7b88637 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-kata-static-tarball-s390x.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-kata-static-tarball-s390x.yaml
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ jobs:
           path: kata-artifacts
       - name: merge-artifacts
         run: |
-          ./tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh kata-artifacts
+          ./tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh kata-artifacts versions.yaml
       - name: store-artifacts
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
         with:
diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/Makefile b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/Makefile
index dc887e703..ece1900c0 100644
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/Makefile
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/Makefile
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ virtiofsd-tarball:
 	${MAKE} $@-build
 
 merge-builds:
-	$(MK_DIR)/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh build
+	$(MK_DIR)/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh build "$(MK_DIR)/../../../../versions.yaml"
 
 install-tarball:
 	tar -xf ./kata-static.tar.xz -C /
diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh
index b2d02b43f..ff13708ef 100755
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-merge-builds.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ set -o pipefail
 set -o errtrace
 
 kata_build_dir=${1:-build}
+kata_versions_yaml_file=${2:-""}
+
 tar_path="${PWD}/kata-static.tar.xz"
 
 pushd "${kata_build_dir}"
@@ -24,6 +26,15 @@ do
 	tar -xvf "${c}" -C "${tarball_content_dir}"
 done
 
+pushd ${tarball_content_dir}
+	shim="containerd-shim-kata-v2"
+	shim_path=$(find . -name ${shim} | sort | head -1)
+	prefix=${shim_path%"bin/${shim}"}
+
+	echo "$(git describe)" > ${prefix}/VERSION
+	[[ -n "${kata_versions_yaml_file}" ]] && cp ${kata_versions_yaml_file} ${prefix}/
+popd
+
 echo "create ${tar_path}"
 (cd "${tarball_content_dir}"; tar cvfJ "${tar_path}" .)
 popd