diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index c0c02ad259..efd9ecb2ae 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+3.11.6
+Merged from 2.2
+ * In-JVM DTest: Set correct internode message version for upgrade test (CASSANDRA-15371)
+
 3.11.5
  * Fix SASI non-literal string comparisons (range operators) (CASSANDRA-15169)
  * Make sure user defined compaction transactions are always closed (CASSANDRA-15123)
diff --git a/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/impl/Instance.java b/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/impl/Instance.java
index f22586ef89..d1d630565a 100644
--- a/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/impl/Instance.java
+++ b/test/distributed/org/apache/cassandra/distributed/impl/Instance.java
@@ -299,6 +299,13 @@ public class Instance extends IsolatedExecutor implements IInvokableInstance
             try (DataInputBuffer input = new DataInputBuffer(imessage.bytes()))
             {
                 int version = imessage.version();
+                if (version > MessagingService.current_version)
+                {
+                    throw new IllegalStateException(String.format("Node%d received message version %d but current version is %d",
+                                                                  this.config.num(),
+                                                                  version,
+                                                                  MessagingService.current_version));
+                }
 
                 MessagingService.validateMagic(input.readInt());
                 int id;
@@ -491,8 +498,10 @@ public class Instance extends IsolatedExecutor implements IInvokableInstance
                     Gossiper.instance.realMarkAlive(ep.address, Gossiper.instance.getEndpointStateForEndpoint(ep.address));
                 });
 
-                int version = Math.min(MessagingService.current_version, cluster.get(ep).getMessagingVersion());
-                MessagingService.instance().setVersion(ep.address, version);
+                int messagingVersion = cluster.get(ep).isShutdown()
+                                       ? MessagingService.current_version
+                                       : Math.min(MessagingService.current_version, cluster.get(ep).getMessagingVersion());
+                MessagingService.instance().setVersion(ep.address, messagingVersion);
             }
 
             // check that all nodes are in token metadata