diff --git a/lib/git_utils.rb b/lib/git_utils.rb
index d7675a5a933..dc926720dde 100644
--- a/lib/git_utils.rb
+++ b/lib/git_utils.rb
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ class GitUtils
   def self.has_commit?(hash)
     return false if !hash.match?(/\A[a-f0-9]{40}\Z/)
 
-    self.try_git("git cat-file -t #{hash} 2> /dev/null", false) == "commit"
+    self.try_git("git merge-base --is-ancestor #{hash} HEAD 2> /dev/null; echo $?", "1") == "0"
   end
 
   def self.last_commit_date
diff --git a/lib/version.rb b/lib/version.rb
index bde733b79fd..4359d669cf6 100644
--- a/lib/version.rb
+++ b/lib/version.rb
@@ -25,8 +25,7 @@ module Discourse
 
   def self.has_needed_version?(current, needed)
     Gem::Version.new(current) >= Gem::Version.new(needed)
-  rescue ArgumentError => e
-    Rails.logger.error(e.message)
+  rescue ArgumentError
     false
   end