diff --git a/.github/sync-repo-settings.yaml b/.github/sync-repo-settings.yaml
index cda3df63..c7db3648 100644
--- a/.github/sync-repo-settings.yaml
+++ b/.github/sync-repo-settings.yaml
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ branchProtectionRules:
     - "Kokoro - Test: Integration"
     - "Kokoro - Test: Java GraalVM Native Image"
     - "Kokoro - Test: Java 17 GraalVM Native Image"
+    - "Kokoro - Test: Docker Image Validation"
     - "dependencies (11, java-bigquery)"
     - "dependencies (11, java-spanner)"
     - "dependencies (11, java-storage)"
diff --git a/.kokoro/verify-docker-images.sh b/.kokoro/verify-docker-images.sh
index 3f15d3a2..794f7a8d 100755
--- a/.kokoro/verify-docker-images.sh
+++ b/.kokoro/verify-docker-images.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ function fetch_image_names() {
   echo "$imageNames"
 }
 
+git config --global --add safe.directory /tmpfs/src/github/java-shared-config
+
 # Get the directory of the build script
 scriptDir=$(realpath "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")")
 # cd to the parent directory, i.e. the root of the git repo
@@ -16,8 +18,8 @@ cd ${scriptDir}/.. || exit
 # Fetch the java-shared-config version in source of the current commit.
 javaSharedConfigVersion="$(mvn help:evaluate -Dexpression=project.version -q -DforceStdout)"
 
-branchName=$(git name-rev "$KOKORO_GIT_COMMIT" | sed 's/.* //')
-gitCommitMessage=$(git log -1 "$(git rev-parse --short "$KOKORO_GIT_COMMIT")" | grep "chore(main): release *")
+branchName=$(git name-rev "${KOKORO_GIT_COMMIT}" | sed 's/.* //')
+gitCommitMessage=$(git log -1 "$(git rev-parse --short "${KOKORO_GIT_COMMIT}")" | grep "chore(main): release *")
 
 # GraalVM docker images are not tagged with SNAPSHOT versions.
 if [[ "${branchName}" == *"release-please--branches--main"* ]] && [[ ! $gitCommitMessage =~ "SNAPSHOT" ]]; then