diff --git a/src/daemon/rpmostreed-os.c b/src/daemon/rpmostreed-os.c
index bf795b0d..189cfc68 100644
--- a/src/daemon/rpmostreed-os.c
+++ b/src/daemon/rpmostreed-os.c
@@ -463,6 +463,20 @@ merge_compatible_txn (RpmostreedOS *self,
   return NULL;
 }
 
+static gboolean
+refresh_cached_update (RpmostreedOS*, GError **error);
+
+static void
+on_auto_update_done (RpmostreedTransaction *transaction, RpmostreedOS *self)
+{
+  g_autoptr(GError) local_error = NULL;
+  if (!refresh_cached_update (self, &local_error))
+    {
+      sd_journal_print (LOG_WARNING, "Failed to refresh CachedUpdate property: %s",
+                        local_error->message);
+    }
+}
+
 static gboolean
 os_handle_download_update_rpm_diff (RPMOSTreeOS *interface,
                                     GDBusMethodInvocation *invocation)
@@ -498,6 +512,11 @@ os_handle_download_update_rpm_diff (RPMOSTreeOS *interface,
   if (transaction == NULL)
     goto out;
 
+  /* Make sure we refresh CachedUpdate after the transaction. This normally happens
+   * automatically if new data was downloaded (through the repo mtime bump --> UPDATED
+   * signal), but we also want to do this even if the data was already present. */
+  g_signal_connect (transaction, "closed", G_CALLBACK (on_auto_update_done), self);
+
   rpmostreed_transaction_monitor_add (self->transaction_monitor, transaction);
 
 out:
@@ -711,20 +730,6 @@ start_deployment_txn (GDBusMethodInvocation  *invocation,
                                             cancellable, error);
 }
 
-static gboolean
-refresh_cached_update (RpmostreedOS*, GError **error);
-
-static void
-on_auto_update_done (RpmostreedTransaction *transaction, RpmostreedOS *self)
-{
-  g_autoptr(GError) local_error = NULL;
-  if (!refresh_cached_update (self, &local_error))
-    {
-      sd_journal_print (LOG_WARNING, "Failed to refresh CachedUpdate property: %s",
-                        local_error->message);
-    }
-}
-
 typedef void (*InvocationCompleter)(RPMOSTreeOS*,
                                     GDBusMethodInvocation*,
                                     GUnixFDList*,
diff --git a/src/daemon/rpmostreed-transaction-types.c b/src/daemon/rpmostreed-transaction-types.c
index 76951526..f881b484 100644
--- a/src/daemon/rpmostreed-transaction-types.c
+++ b/src/daemon/rpmostreed-transaction-types.c
@@ -330,6 +330,17 @@ package_diff_transaction_execute (RpmostreedTransaction *transaction,
         rpmostree_output_message ("No change.");
     }
 
+  if (upgrading)
+    {
+      /* For backwards compatibility, we still need to make sure the CachedUpdate property
+       * is updated here. To do this, we cache to disk in libostree mode (no DnfSack), since
+       * that's all we updated here. This conflicts with auto-updates for now, though we
+       * need better test coverage before uniting those two paths. */
+      OstreeDeployment *booted_deployment = ostree_sysroot_get_booted_deployment (sysroot);
+      if (!generate_update_variant (repo, booted_deployment, NULL, cancellable, error))
+        return FALSE;
+    }
+
   return TRUE;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/vmcheck/test-cached-rpm-diffs.sh b/tests/vmcheck/test-cached-rpm-diffs.sh
index 766b3b1c..f2dedee2 100755
--- a/tests/vmcheck/test-cached-rpm-diffs.sh
+++ b/tests/vmcheck/test-cached-rpm-diffs.sh
@@ -58,6 +58,33 @@ call_dbus() {
     -m org.projectatomic.rpmostree1.OS.$method "$@"
 }
 
+if vm_cmd test -x /usr/bin/python3; then
+  py=python3
+else
+  py=python
+fi
+
+run_transaction() {
+  method=$1; shift
+  sig=$1; shift
+  args=$1; shift
+  cur=$(vm_get_journal_cursor)
+  # use ansible for this so we don't have to think about hungry quote-eating ssh
+  vm_shell_inline <<EOF
+$py -c '
+import dbus
+addr = dbus.SystemBus().call_blocking(
+  "org.projectatomic.rpmostree1", "$ospath", "org.projectatomic.rpmostree1.OS",
+  "$method", "$sig", ($args))
+t = dbus.connection.Connection(addr)
+t.call_blocking(
+  "org.projectatomic.rpmostree1", "/",
+  "org.projectatomic.rpmostree1.Transaction", "Start", "", ())
+t.close()'
+EOF
+  vm_wait_content_after_cursor $cur "Txn $method on .* successful"
+}
+
 call_dbus GetCachedDeployRpmDiff "vDeploy" [] > out.txt
 assert_file_has_content out.txt "<'vmcheck'>"
 assert_file_has_content out.txt "$deploy_csum"
@@ -85,3 +112,9 @@ assert_file_has_content out.txt "pkg1"
 assert_file_has_content out.txt "pkg2"
 assert_file_has_content out.txt "pkg3"
 echo "ok GetCachedRebaseRpmDiff"
+
+# This is not a super realistic test since we don't actually download anything.
+# Still it checks that we properly update the cache
+run_transaction DownloadUpdateRpmDiff "" ""
+vm_assert_status_jq '.["cached-update"]["version"] == "vUpdate"'
+echo "ok DownloadUpdateRpmDiff"