diff --git a/lib/entry-points.js b/lib/entry-points.js
index dd77444e0..582aa5a3e 100644
--- a/lib/entry-points.js
+++ b/lib/entry-points.js
@@ -145250,22 +145250,28 @@ function isPersistedVersionInfo(x) {
   const candidate = x;
   return typeof candidate === "object" && candidate !== null && typeof candidate.cmd === "string" && isVersionInfo(candidate.version);
 }
-function cacheCodeQlVersion(cmd, version) {
+function getPathToCodeQLVersionCacheFile(env) {
+  return path.join(getTemporaryDirectory(env), "version.json");
+}
+function cacheCodeQlVersion(cmd, version, env = getEnv()) {
   if (cachedCodeQlVersion !== void 0) {
     throw new Error("cacheCodeQlVersion() should be called only once");
   }
   cachedCodeQlVersion = version;
-  core2.exportVariable(
-    "CODEQL_ACTION_CLI_VERSION_INFO" /* CODEQL_VERSION_INFO */,
-    JSON.stringify({ cmd, version })
+  fs.writeFileSync(
+    getPathToCodeQLVersionCacheFile(env),
+    JSON.stringify({ cmd, version }),
+    "utf8"
   );
 }
-function getCachedCodeQlVersion(cmd) {
+function getCachedCodeQlVersion(cmd, env = getEnv()) {
   if (cachedCodeQlVersion !== void 0) {
     return cachedCodeQlVersion;
   }
-  const serialized = process.env["CODEQL_ACTION_CLI_VERSION_INFO" /* CODEQL_VERSION_INFO */];
-  if (!serialized) {
+  let serialized;
+  try {
+    serialized = fs.readFileSync(getPathToCodeQLVersionCacheFile(env), "utf8");
+  } catch {
     return void 0;
   }
   let persisted;
diff --git a/src/util.ts b/src/util.ts
index 315e9ae4e..c92671850 100644
--- a/src/util.ts
+++ b/src/util.ts
@@ -689,10 +689,12 @@ export function getCachedCodeQlVersion(
   // Fall back to the value persisted by an earlier Actions step, if any. This is
   // best-effort: any malformed or mismatched value is ignored so that the caller
   // invokes `codeql version` instead.
-  const serialized = fs.readFileSync(
-    getPathToCodeQLVersionCacheFile(env),
-    "utf8",
-  );
+  let serialized: string;
+  try {
+    serialized = fs.readFileSync(getPathToCodeQLVersionCacheFile(env), "utf8");
+  } catch {
+    return undefined;
+  }
   let persisted: unknown;
   try {
     persisted = JSON.parse(serialized);