diff --git a/.github/workflows/create-release-branch.yaml b/.github/workflows/create-release-branch.yaml
index e38254ac29f..b690edf2161 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/create-release-branch.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/create-release-branch.yaml
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
           git config user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
-          git commit -m "chore: Pin system-tests for release branch" .github/workflows/run-system-tests.yaml
+          git commit -m "chore: Pin system-tests for release branch" .github/workflows/run-system-tests.yaml .gitlab-ci.yml
           echo "commit=$(git rev-parse HEAD)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
       
       - name: Push changes
diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-system-tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/run-system-tests.yaml
index 0463d76ac36..9b97ea5c167 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-system-tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-system-tests.yaml
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ jobs:
     needs:
     - build
     # If you change the following comment, update the pattern in the update_system_test_reference.sh script to match.
-    uses: DataDog/system-tests/.github/workflows/system-tests.yml@main # system tests are pinned for releases only
+    uses: DataDog/system-tests/.github/workflows/system-tests.yml@main # system tests are pinned on release branches only
     secrets:
       TEST_OPTIMIZATION_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.DATADOG_API_KEY_PROD }}
     permissions:
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ jobs:
     with:
       library: java
        # If you change the following comment, update the pattern in the update_system_test_reference.sh script to match.
-      ref: main # system tests are pinned for releases only
+      ref: main # system tests are pinned on release branches only
       binaries_artifact: binaries
       desired_execution_time: 900  # 15 minutes
       scenarios_groups: tracer-release
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 36618494552..d8527784e80 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1071,6 +1071,7 @@ publishing-gate:
 
 configure_system_tests:
   variables:
+    SYSTEM_TESTS_REF: main # system tests are pinned on release branches only
     SYSTEM_TESTS_SCENARIOS_GROUPS: "simple_onboarding,simple_onboarding_profiling,simple_onboarding_appsec,docker-ssi,lib-injection"
 
 create_key:
diff --git a/tooling/update_system_test_reference.sh b/tooling/update_system_test_reference.sh
index 951fe8e4b1d..9271a414e83 100755
--- a/tooling/update_system_test_reference.sh
+++ b/tooling/update_system_test_reference.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 set -euo pipefail
 
-# This script updates the system-tests reference in run-system-tests.yaml.
+# This script updates the system-tests references used by GitHub Actions (run-system-tests.yaml) and GitLab CI (.gitlab-ci.yml).
 # The reference will be updated with the latest commit SHA of the given branch (or `main` if not set) of https://github.com/DataDog/system-tests.
 # Usage: BRANCH=<branch-name> tooling/update_system_test_reference.sh
 
@@ -11,9 +11,11 @@ if [ -z "${BRANCH:-}" ]; then
     echo "BRANCH is not set. Defaulting to 'main'."
 fi
 
-TARGET=".github/workflows/run-system-tests.yaml" # target file to update
-PATTERN_1='(\s*system-tests\.yml@)(\S+)(\s+# system tests.*)' # pattern to update the "system-tests.yml@" reference
-PATTERN_2='(\s*ref: )(\S+)(\s+# system tests.*)' # pattern to update the "ref:" reference
+GITHUB_TARGET=".github/workflows/run-system-tests.yaml"
+GITLAB_TARGET=".gitlab-ci.yml"
+GITHUB_PATTERN_1='(\s*system-tests\.yml@)(\S+)(\s+# system tests.*)' # pattern to update the "system-tests.yml@" reference
+GITHUB_PATTERN_2='(\s*ref: )(\S+)(\s+# system tests.*)' # pattern to update the "ref:" reference
+GITLAB_PATTERN='(\s*SYSTEM_TESTS_REF:\s*)(\S+)(\s+# system tests.*)' # pattern to update the GitLab SYSTEM_TESTS_REF variable
 
 echo "Fetching latest commit SHA for system-tests branch: $BRANCH"
 REF=$(git ls-remote https://github.com/DataDog/system-tests "refs/heads/$BRANCH" | cut -f 1)
@@ -23,8 +25,13 @@ if [ -z "$REF" ]; then
 fi
 echo "Fetched SHA: $REF"
 
-if [ ! -f "$TARGET" ]; then
-    echo "Error: Target file $TARGET does not exist"
+if [ ! -f "$GITHUB_TARGET" ]; then
+    echo "Error: Target file $GITHUB_TARGET does not exist"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ ! -f "$GITLAB_TARGET" ]; then
+    echo "Error: Target file $GITLAB_TARGET does not exist"
     exit 1
 fi
 
@@ -33,13 +40,18 @@ TEMP_FILE=$(mktemp)
 
 # Update the "system-tests.yml@" reference
 echo "Updating 'system-tests.yml@' reference..."
-perl -pe "s/$PATTERN_1/\${1}$REF\${3}/g" "$TARGET" > "$TEMP_FILE"
-cp "$TEMP_FILE" "$TARGET"
+perl -pe "s/$GITHUB_PATTERN_1/\${1}$REF\${3}/g" "$GITHUB_TARGET" > "$TEMP_FILE"
+cp "$TEMP_FILE" "$GITHUB_TARGET"
 
 # Update the "ref:" reference
 echo "Updating 'ref:' reference..."
-perl -pe "s/$PATTERN_2/\${1}$REF\${3}/g" "$TARGET" > "$TEMP_FILE"
-cp "$TEMP_FILE" "$TARGET"
+perl -pe "s/$GITHUB_PATTERN_2/\${1}$REF\${3}/g" "$GITHUB_TARGET" > "$TEMP_FILE"
+cp "$TEMP_FILE" "$GITHUB_TARGET"
+
+# Update the GitLab SYSTEM_TESTS_REF variable
+echo "Updating 'SYSTEM_TESTS_REF' reference..."
+perl -pe "s/$GITLAB_PATTERN/\${1}$REF\${3}/g" "$GITLAB_TARGET" > "$TEMP_FILE"
+cp "$TEMP_FILE" "$GITLAB_TARGET"
 
 # Clean up temporary file
 rm -f "$TEMP_FILE"