diff --git a/src/core/namespace.c b/src/core/namespace.c
index c549dcc96b..ecbd23833c 100644
--- a/src/core/namespace.c
+++ b/src/core/namespace.c
@@ -1151,6 +1151,8 @@ static int mount_image(const MountEntry *m, const char *root_directory) {
                                 NULL);
                 if (r < 0)
                         return log_debug_errno(r, "Failed to acquire 'os-release' data of OS tree '%s': %m", empty_to_root(root_directory));
+                if (isempty(host_os_release_id))
+                        return log_debug_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(EINVAL), "'ID' field not found or empty in 'os-release' data of OS tree '%s': %m", empty_to_root(root_directory));
         }
 
         r = verity_dissect_and_mount(
diff --git a/src/shared/dissect-image.c b/src/shared/dissect-image.c
index 39a7f4c3f2..14519ead70 100644
--- a/src/shared/dissect-image.c
+++ b/src/shared/dissect-image.c
@@ -3534,9 +3534,9 @@ int verity_dissect_and_mount(
         /* If we got os-release values from the caller, then we need to match them with the image's
          * extension-release.d/ content. Return -EINVAL if there's any mismatch.
          * First, check the distro ID. If that matches, then check the new SYSEXT_LEVEL value if
-         * available, or else fallback to VERSION_ID. */
-        if (required_host_os_release_id &&
-            (required_host_os_release_version_id || required_host_os_release_sysext_level)) {
+         * available, or else fallback to VERSION_ID. If neither is present (eg: rolling release),
+         * then a simple match on the ID will be performed. */
+        if (required_host_os_release_id) {
                 _cleanup_strv_free_ char **extension_release = NULL;
 
                 r = load_extension_release_pairs(dest, dissected_image->image_name, &extension_release);