diff --git a/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto b/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto
index 68d3aca1d..5489fd566 100755
--- a/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto
+++ b/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto
@@ -1888,6 +1888,12 @@ UNLIKELY_EOF
       error "WARNING: unable to check for updates."
     fi
 
+    # If for any reason REMOTE_VERSION is not set, let's assume certbot-auto is up-to-date,
+    # in order to avoid potential failures because of an unset REMOTE_VERSION variable.
+    if [ -z "$REMOTE_VERSION" ]; then
+      REMOTE_VERSION="$LE_AUTO_VERSION"
+    fi
+
     LE_VERSION_STATE=`CompareVersions "$LE_PYTHON" "$LE_AUTO_VERSION" "$REMOTE_VERSION"`
     if [ "$LE_VERSION_STATE" = "UNOFFICIAL" ]; then
       say "Unofficial certbot-auto version detected, self-upgrade is disabled: $LE_AUTO_VERSION"
diff --git a/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto.template b/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto.template
index bc4b92092..a9ed3abf2 100755
--- a/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto.template
+++ b/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto.template
@@ -764,6 +764,12 @@ UNLIKELY_EOF
       error "WARNING: unable to check for updates."
     fi
 
+    # If for any reason REMOTE_VERSION is not set, let's assume certbot-auto is up-to-date,
+    # in order to avoid potential failures because of an unset REMOTE_VERSION variable.
+    if [ -z "$REMOTE_VERSION" ]; then
+      REMOTE_VERSION="$LE_AUTO_VERSION"
+    fi
+
     LE_VERSION_STATE=`CompareVersions "$LE_PYTHON" "$LE_AUTO_VERSION" "$REMOTE_VERSION"`
     if [ "$LE_VERSION_STATE" = "UNOFFICIAL" ]; then
       say "Unofficial certbot-auto version detected, self-upgrade is disabled: $LE_AUTO_VERSION"