diff --git a/ci/scripts/common/bump_version.sh b/ci/scripts/common/bump_version.sh
index b9bb3f5..e92261f 100755
--- a/ci/scripts/common/bump_version.sh
+++ b/ci/scripts/common/bump_version.sh
@@ -6,8 +6,13 @@ cd "${REPO_ROOT}"
 
 VERSION_FILE="./version"
 if [ ! -f "${VERSION_FILE}" ]; then
-  echo "[bump-version] version file not found: ${VERSION_FILE}" >&2
-  exit 1
+  if git cat-file -e "HEAD:version" 2>/dev/null; then
+    echo "[bump-version] version file missing in workspace, restoring from HEAD" >&2
+    git checkout -- version
+  else
+    echo "[bump-version] version file not found: ${VERSION_FILE}" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
 fi
 
 CURRENT_VERSION="$(cat "${VERSION_FILE}")"