diff --git a/tests/kola/boot/bootupd-validate b/tests/kola/boot/bootupd-validate
index 4650dae37..5948f6296 100755
--- a/tests/kola/boot/bootupd-validate
+++ b/tests/kola/boot/bootupd-validate
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ validate() {
 # should remove this until https://issues.redhat.com/browse/RHEL-66584 is fixed
 set_selinux_permissve() {
     source /etc/os-release
-    if is_scos || ([ "${RHEL_VERSION}" == "9.6" ] && [ "${VARIANT_ID}" == "coreos" ] ); then
+    if is_scos || [ "$(get_rhel_ver)" = "9.6" ]; then
         semanage permissive -a bootupd_t
     fi
 }
diff --git a/tests/kola/data/commonlib.sh b/tests/kola/data/commonlib.sh
index f5efd93bd..40557bdfc 100644
--- a/tests/kola/data/commonlib.sh
+++ b/tests/kola/data/commonlib.sh
@@ -57,17 +57,22 @@ get_fedora_ver() {
     fi
 }
 
-get_rhel_maj_ver() {
+get_rhel_ver() {
     source /etc/os-release
     if [ "${ID}" == "rhcos" ]; then
-        echo "${RHEL_VERSION%%.*}"
+        echo "${RHEL_VERSION}"
     elif [ "${ID}" == "rhel" ]; then
-        echo "${VERSION_ID%%.*}"
+        echo "${VERSION_ID}"
     else
         fatal "Unknown ID $ID"
     fi
 }
 
+get_rhel_maj_ver() {
+    local ver; ver=$(get_rhel_ver)
+    echo "${ver%%.*}"
+}
+
 # rhcos9
 is_rhcos9() {
     source /etc/os-release