diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 05b6882c7..de70cd46e 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1363,9 +1363,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "ostree-ext"
-version = "0.15.0"
+version = "0.15.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "8778f3ba7b521c1eb9228dd3b92c5461a5594a003e62fef15367199e4cd46482"
+checksum = "bbcc45e75367e27db8892062a3b367f058b86135b02158a9fc2d1038506758f9"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "camino",
diff --git a/lib/src/cli.rs b/lib/src/cli.rs
index a2c4986b3..8a8203a32 100644
--- a/lib/src/cli.rs
+++ b/lib/src/cli.rs
@@ -609,16 +609,17 @@ async fn upgrade(opts: UpgradeOpts) -> Result<()> {
         }
     } else {
         let fetched = crate::deploy::pull(repo, imgref, None, opts.quiet).await?;
-        let staged_digest = staged_image.as_ref().map(|s| s.image_digest.as_str());
-        let fetched_digest = fetched.manifest_digest.as_str();
+        let staged_digest = staged_image.map(|s| s.digest().expect("valid digest in status"));
+        let fetched_digest = &fetched.manifest_digest;
         tracing::debug!("staged: {staged_digest:?}");
         tracing::debug!("fetched: {fetched_digest}");
         let staged_unchanged = staged_digest
+            .as_ref()
             .map(|d| d == fetched_digest)
             .unwrap_or_default();
         let booted_unchanged = booted_image
             .as_ref()
-            .map(|img| img.manifest_digest.as_str() == fetched_digest)
+            .map(|img| &img.manifest_digest == fetched_digest)
             .unwrap_or_default();
         if staged_unchanged {
             println!("Staged update present, not changed.");
diff --git a/lib/src/deploy.rs b/lib/src/deploy.rs
index 6bcfda9cc..17f1208bd 100644
--- a/lib/src/deploy.rs
+++ b/lib/src/deploy.rs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ use ostree::{gio, glib};
 use ostree_container::OstreeImageReference;
 use ostree_ext::container as ostree_container;
 use ostree_ext::container::store::{ImportProgress, PrepareResult};
-use ostree_ext::oci_spec::image::Descriptor;
+use ostree_ext::oci_spec::image::{Descriptor, Digest};
 use ostree_ext::ostree::Deployment;
 use ostree_ext::ostree::{self, Sysroot};
 use ostree_ext::sysroot::SysrootLock;
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ pub(crate) struct RequiredHostSpec<'a> {
 
 /// State of a locally fetched image
 pub(crate) struct ImageState {
-    pub(crate) manifest_digest: String,
+    pub(crate) manifest_digest: Digest,
     pub(crate) version: Option<String>,
     pub(crate) ostree_commit: String,
 }
@@ -481,7 +481,10 @@ pub(crate) async fn rollback(sysroot: &Storage) -> Result<()> {
         &msg,
         [
             ("MESSAGE_ID", ROLLBACK_JOURNAL_ID),
-            ("BOOTC_MANIFEST_DIGEST", &rollback_image.manifest_digest),
+            (
+                "BOOTC_MANIFEST_DIGEST",
+                &rollback_image.manifest_digest.to_string(),
+            ),
         ]
         .into_iter(),
     )?;
diff --git a/lib/src/spec.rs b/lib/src/spec.rs
index 5a5dd0b1e..ab2ca9073 100644
--- a/lib/src/spec.rs
+++ b/lib/src/spec.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 use std::fmt::Display;
 
 use ostree_ext::container::OstreeImageReference;
+use ostree_ext::oci_spec::image::Digest;
 use schemars::JsonSchema;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 
@@ -219,6 +220,13 @@ impl Display for ImageReference {
     }
 }
 
+impl ImageStatus {
+    pub(crate) fn digest(&self) -> anyhow::Result<Digest> {
+        use std::str::FromStr;
+        Ok(Digest::from_str(&self.image_digest)?)
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use std::str::FromStr;
diff --git a/lib/src/store/ostree_container.rs b/lib/src/store/ostree_container.rs
index ca18000f5..bd62fb007 100644
--- a/lib/src/store/ostree_container.rs
+++ b/lib/src/store/ostree_container.rs
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 
 use ostree_ext::container as ostree_container;
 use ostree_ext::oci_spec;
-use ostree_ext::oci_spec::image::ImageConfiguration;
+use ostree_ext::oci_spec::image::{Digest, ImageConfiguration};
 use ostree_ext::ostree;
 use ostree_ext::sysroot::SysrootLock;
 
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ impl super::ContainerImageStoreImpl for OstreeContainerStore {
 /// Convert between a subset of ostree-ext metadata and the exposed spec API.
 fn create_imagestatus(
     image: ImageReference,
-    manifest_digest: &str,
+    manifest_digest: &Digest,
     config: &ImageConfiguration,
 ) -> ImageStatus {
     let labels = labels_of_config(config);
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ fn create_imagestatus(
         image,
         version,
         timestamp,
-        image_digest: manifest_digest.to_owned(),
+        image_digest: manifest_digest.to_string(),
     }
 }