diff --git a/test/integration/default/controls/_mapdata.rb b/test/integration/default/controls/_mapdata.rb
index b2b0541..c6a3a27 100644
--- a/test/integration/default/controls/_mapdata.rb
+++ b/test/integration/default/controls/_mapdata.rb
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ control 'salt._mapdata' do
   # Load the mapdata from profile, into a YAML structure
   # https://docs.chef.io/inspec/profiles/#profile-files
   mapdata_file_yaml = YAML.load(inspec.profile.file(mapdata_file_path))
+  # salt_settings.version is pinned to the kitchen image's salt, so drop it
+  mapdata_file_yaml.dig('values', 'salt_settings')&.delete('version')
   # Dump the YAML back into a string for comparison
   mapdata_file_dump = YAML.dump(mapdata_file_yaml)
 
@@ -36,6 +38,8 @@ control 'salt._mapdata' do
   # Load the output into a YAML structure using InSpec's `yaml` resource
   # https://github.com/inspec/inspec/blob/49b7d10/lib/inspec/resources/yaml.rb#L29
   output_file_yaml = yaml(output_file_path).params
+  # drop the image-pinned salt_settings.version here too
+  output_file_yaml.dig('values', 'salt_settings')&.delete('version')
   # Dump the YAML back into a string for comparison
   output_file_dump = YAML.dump(output_file_yaml)
 
diff --git a/test/salt/pillar/salt.sls b/test/salt/pillar/salt.sls
index 9338f52..f0fe517 100644
--- a/test/salt/pillar/salt.sls
+++ b/test/salt/pillar/salt.sls
@@ -3,6 +3,11 @@
 ---
 salt:
   py_ver: 'py3'
+  # Pin to the salt version baked into the kitchen image so salt.minion/salt.master
+  # don't upgrade it to the repo's "latest" in place mid-converge — swapping the
+  # running onedir breaks the post-install module refresh, which raises:
+  #   ModuleNotFoundError: spec not found for the module 'site'
+  version: "{{ salt['grains.get']('saltversion') }}"
   # Override used for FreeBSD minion service
   retry_options:
     attempts: 5