diff --git a/wp-includes/version.php b/wp-includes/version.php
index eaad127758..eb2c7a3671 100644
--- a/wp-includes/version.php
+++ b/wp-includes/version.php
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 <?php
+global $wp_version, $wp_db_version, $tinymce_version, $required_php_version, $required_mysql_version;
+
 /**
  * The WordPress version string
  *
diff --git a/wp-settings.php b/wp-settings.php
index 260a6fb9cb..40d3a61e1a 100644
--- a/wp-settings.php
+++ b/wp-settings.php
@@ -20,6 +20,13 @@ define( 'WPINC', 'wp-includes' );
 // Include files required for initialization.
 require( ABSPATH . WPINC . '/load.php' );
 require( ABSPATH . WPINC . '/default-constants.php' );
+
+/*
+ * These can't be directly globalized in version.php. When updating,
+ * we're including version.php from another install and don't want
+ * these values to be overridden if already set.
+ */
+global $wp_version, $wp_db_version, $tinymce_version, $required_php_version, $required_mysql_version;
 require( ABSPATH . WPINC . '/version.php' );
 
 // Set initial default constants including WP_MEMORY_LIMIT, WP_MAX_MEMORY_LIMIT, WP_DEBUG, WP_CONTENT_DIR and WP_CACHE.