diff --git a/tools/packaging/scripts/apply_patches.sh b/tools/packaging/scripts/apply_patches.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..aa6b19b609
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/packaging/scripts/apply_patches.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Copyright (c) 2020 Red Hat, Inc.
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+#
+# This script apply patches.
+#
+set -e
+
+script_dir="$(realpath $(dirname $0))"
+patches_dir="$1"
+
+if [ -z "$patches_dir" ]; then
+	cat <<-EOT
+	Apply patches to the sources at the current directory.
+
+	Patches are expected to be named in the standard git-format-patch(1) format where
+	the first part of the filename represents the patch ordering (lowest numbers
+	apply first):
+	    'NUMBER-DASHED_DESCRIPTION.patch'
+
+	For example,
+
+	    0001-fix-the-bad-thing.patch
+	    0002-improve-the-fix-the-bad-thing-fix.patch
+	    0003-correct-compiler-warnings.patch
+
+	Usage:
+	    $0 PATCHES_DIR
+	Where:
+	    PATCHES_DIR is the directory containing the patches
+	EOT
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "INFO: Apply patches from $patches_dir"
+if [ -d "$patches_dir" ]; then
+	patches=($(find "$patches_dir" -name '*.patch'|sort -t- -k1,1n))
+	echo "INFO: Found ${#patches[@]} patches"
+	for patch in ${patches[@]}; do
+		echo "INFO: Apply $patch"
+		git apply "$patch" || \
+			{ echo >&2 "ERROR: Not applied. Exiting..."; exit 1; }
+	done
+else
+	echo "INFO: Patches directory does not exist"
+fi
diff --git a/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu-virtiofs/Dockerfile b/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu-virtiofs/Dockerfile
index 380e9eb855..0caa064514 100644
--- a/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu-virtiofs/Dockerfile
+++ b/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu-virtiofs/Dockerfile
@@ -61,12 +61,10 @@ ADD static-build /root/static-build
 # Apply experimental specific patches
 # Patches to quick fix virtiofs fork
 ENV VIRTIOFS_PATCHES_DIR=/root/kata_qemu/patches/${QEMU_VIRTIOFS_TAG}/
-RUN if [ -d ${VIRTIOFS_PATCHES_DIR} ]; then \
-	echo "Patches to apply for virtiofs fixes:"; \
-	for patch in $(find "${VIRTIOFS_PATCHES_DIR}" -name '*.patch' -type f |sort -t- -k1,1n); do \
-		git apply $patch; \
-	done;fi
-RUN /root/kata_qemu/apply_patches.sh
+RUN /root/apply_patches.sh ${VIRTIOFS_PATCHES_DIR}
+# Apply the stable branch patches
+RUN stable_branch=$(cat VERSION | awk 'BEGIN{FS=OFS="."}{print $1 "." $2 ".x"}') && \
+        /root/apply_patches.sh "/root/kata_qemu/patches/${stable_branch}"
 
 RUN PREFIX="${PREFIX}" /root/configure-hypervisor.sh -s kata-qemu | sed -e 's|--disable-seccomp||g' | xargs ./configure \
 	--with-pkgversion=kata-static
diff --git a/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu/Dockerfile b/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu/Dockerfile
index 26fc6c811c..502b9018ad 100644
--- a/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu/Dockerfile
+++ b/tools/packaging/static-build/qemu/Dockerfile
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ ADD qemu /root/kata_qemu
 ADD scripts/apply_patches.sh /root/apply_patches.sh
 ADD static-build /root/static-build
 
-RUN  /root/kata_qemu/apply_patches.sh
+RUN stable_branch=$(cat VERSION | awk 'BEGIN{FS=OFS="."}{print $1 "." $2 ".x"}') && \
+	/root/apply_patches.sh "/root/kata_qemu/patches/${stable_branch}"
 
 RUN PREFIX="${PREFIX}" /root/configure-hypervisor.sh -s kata-qemu | xargs ./configure \
 	--with-pkgversion=kata-static