diff --git a/net/batman-adv/Makefile b/net/batman-adv/Makefile
index d3c4d4143c14..5d7456f1240d 100644
--- a/net/batman-adv/Makefile
+++ b/net/batman-adv/Makefile
@@ -30,5 +30,6 @@ batman-adv-$(CONFIG_BATMAN_ADV_TRACING) += trace.o
 batman-adv-y += tp_meter.o
 batman-adv-y += translation-table.o
 batman-adv-y += tvlv.o
+batman-adv-y += version.o
 
 CFLAGS_trace.o := -I$(src)
diff --git a/net/batman-adv/main.c b/net/batman-adv/main.c
index a4d33ee0fda5..82bba3489378 100644
--- a/net/batman-adv/main.c
+++ b/net/batman-adv/main.c
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 #include <linux/sprintf.h>
 #include <linux/stddef.h>
 #include <linux/string.h>
+#include <linux/utsname.h>
 #include <linux/workqueue.h>
 #include <net/dsfield.h>
 #include <net/genetlink.h>
@@ -112,7 +113,7 @@ static int __init batadv_init(void)
 	batadv_netlink_register();
 
 	pr_info("B.A.T.M.A.N. advanced %s (compatibility version %i) loaded\n",
-		BATADV_SOURCE_VERSION, BATADV_COMPAT_VERSION);
+		init_utsname()->release, BATADV_COMPAT_VERSION);
 
 	return 0;
 
@@ -684,6 +685,5 @@ MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
 
 MODULE_AUTHOR(BATADV_DRIVER_AUTHOR);
 MODULE_DESCRIPTION(BATADV_DRIVER_DESC);
-MODULE_VERSION(BATADV_SOURCE_VERSION);
 MODULE_ALIAS_RTNL_LINK("batadv");
 MODULE_ALIAS_GENL_FAMILY(BATADV_NL_NAME);
diff --git a/net/batman-adv/main.h b/net/batman-adv/main.h
index af230b017bc1..f68fc8b7239c 100644
--- a/net/batman-adv/main.h
+++ b/net/batman-adv/main.h
@@ -12,10 +12,6 @@
 #define BATADV_DRIVER_DESC   "B.A.T.M.A.N. advanced"
 #define BATADV_DRIVER_DEVICE "batman-adv"
 
-#ifndef BATADV_SOURCE_VERSION
-#define BATADV_SOURCE_VERSION "2025.5"
-#endif
-
 /* B.A.T.M.A.N. parameters */
 
 #define BATADV_TQ_MAX_VALUE 255
diff --git a/net/batman-adv/mesh-interface.c b/net/batman-adv/mesh-interface.c
index e7aa45bc6b7a..f25b86102957 100644
--- a/net/batman-adv/mesh-interface.c
+++ b/net/batman-adv/mesh-interface.c
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include <linux/stddef.h>
 #include <linux/string.h>
 #include <linux/types.h>
+#include <linux/utsname.h>
 #include <net/netlink.h>
 #include <net/rtnetlink.h>
 #include <uapi/linux/batadv_packet.h>
@@ -892,7 +893,7 @@ static void batadv_get_drvinfo(struct net_device *dev,
 			       struct ethtool_drvinfo *info)
 {
 	strscpy(info->driver, "B.A.T.M.A.N. advanced", sizeof(info->driver));
-	strscpy(info->version, BATADV_SOURCE_VERSION, sizeof(info->version));
+	strscpy(info->version, init_utsname()->release, sizeof(info->version));
 	strscpy(info->fw_version, "N/A", sizeof(info->fw_version));
 	strscpy(info->bus_info, "batman", sizeof(info->bus_info));
 }
diff --git a/net/batman-adv/netlink.c b/net/batman-adv/netlink.c
index 78c651f634cd..b30f018740fc 100644
--- a/net/batman-adv/netlink.c
+++ b/net/batman-adv/netlink.c
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #include <linux/skbuff.h>
 #include <linux/stddef.h>
 #include <linux/types.h>
+#include <linux/utsname.h>
 #include <net/genetlink.h>
 #include <net/net_namespace.h>
 #include <net/netlink.h>
@@ -233,7 +234,7 @@ static int batadv_netlink_mesh_fill(struct sk_buff *msg,
 	if (!hdr)
 		return -ENOBUFS;
 
-	if (nla_put_string(msg, BATADV_ATTR_VERSION, BATADV_SOURCE_VERSION) ||
+	if (nla_put_string(msg, BATADV_ATTR_VERSION, init_utsname()->release) ||
 	    nla_put_string(msg, BATADV_ATTR_ALGO_NAME,
 			   bat_priv->algo_ops->name) ||
 	    nla_put_u32(msg, BATADV_ATTR_MESH_IFINDEX, mesh_iface->ifindex) ||
diff --git a/net/batman-adv/version.c b/net/batman-adv/version.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2b8006fe85b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/net/batman-adv/version.c
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+#include <generated/utsrelease.h>
+#include <linux/module.h>
+
+/* WARNING userspace tools like batctl were relying on
+ * /sys/module/batman_adv/version to check if the module was loaded. If it
+ * isn't present, they usually error out before finishing setup of the batadv
+ * interface. It should be kept until it is unlikely that there are active
+ * installations of these "broken" versions of these tools with recent kernels.
+ */
+MODULE_VERSION(UTS_RELEASE);