diff --git a/smoketest/lib/scenario.sh b/smoketest/lib/scenario.sh
index 4fe7aeb..5e75cc3 100644
--- a/smoketest/lib/scenario.sh
+++ b/smoketest/lib/scenario.sh
@@ -99,7 +99,9 @@ upstream_set() {
   local sha
   sha="$(git -C "$SMOKETEST_REPO" rev-parse --verify --quiet "$1^{commit}")" \
     || fail "no such commit: $1"
-  GIT_SSH_COMMAND="${VM_GIT_SSH:-ssh}" git -C "$SMOKETEST_REPO" push --quiet --force \
+  # --no-verify: a pre-push hook in the working copy (coredesktop-dev's runs
+  # make check) is for pushes to the real upstream, not to the VM
+  GIT_SSH_COMMAND="${VM_GIT_SSH:-ssh}" git -C "$SMOKETEST_REPO" push --quiet --force --no-verify \
     "${VM_GIT_URL:-}$UPSTREAM" "$sha:refs/heads/main" || fail "couldn't push $1 to the VM"
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/smoketest.bats b/tests/smoketest.bats
index 94fd9cd..8352d04 100644
--- a/tests/smoketest.bats
+++ b/tests/smoketest.bats
@@ -44,6 +44,13 @@ upstream_main() {
   [ "$(upstream_main)" = "$V2" ]
 }
 
+@test "pushing to the VM skips the working copy's pre-push hook" {
+  printf '%s\n' '#!/bin/bash' 'echo hook ran; exit 1' > "$SMOKETEST_REPO/.git/hooks/pre-push"
+  chmod +x "$SMOKETEST_REPO/.git/hooks/pre-push"
+  smoketest_prepare
+  [ "$(upstream_main)" = "$V2" ]
+}
+
 @test "prepare sends CoreDesktop's URLs to the fake upstream" {
   smoketest_prepare
   for url in "${COREDESKTOP_URLS[@]}"; do
diff --git a/tests/test_helper.bash b/tests/test_helper.bash
index a48f521..87ce7b2 100644
--- a/tests/test_helper.bash
+++ b/tests/test_helper.bash
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@ common_setup() {
   : > "$STUB_LOG"
   export PATH="$STUB_BIN:$PATH"
   unset COREDESKTOP
+  # Set when the tests run inside a smoketest (a pre-push hook's checks, say),
+  # where they would point the smoketest tests at the real VM
+  unset VM_GIT_SSH VM_GIT_URL SMOKETEST_REPO SMOKETEST_RESULTS SMOKETEST_SHARED \
+    SMOKETEST_REF SMOKETEST_VM_DIR IMAGE_REF VARIANT
 }
 
 # A test file that needs more setup defines its own setup that calls this first