diff --git a/hack/make.sh b/hack/make.sh
index 0204756d82..d2547af12e 100755
--- a/hack/make.sh
+++ b/hack/make.sh
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ DEFAULT_BUNDLES=(
 	ubuntu
 )
 
-VERSION=$(cat ./VERSION)
+VERSION=$(< ./VERSION)
 if command -v git &> /dev/null && git rev-parse &> /dev/null; then
 	GITCOMMIT=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
 	if [ -n "$(git status --porcelain --untracked-files=no)" ]; then
diff --git a/hack/release.sh b/hack/release.sh
index 4b0d32c9d2..04772546fd 100755
--- a/hack/release.sh
+++ b/hack/release.sh
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ if [ "$1" != '--release-regardless-of-test-failure' ]; then
 	)
 fi
 
-VERSION=$(cat VERSION)
+VERSION=$(< VERSION)
 BUCKET=$AWS_S3_BUCKET
 
 # These are the 2 keys we've used to sign the deb's