diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/broker/BrokerMetrics.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/broker/BrokerMetrics.java
index f6be65a..3f8aa8d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/broker/BrokerMetrics.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/broker/BrokerMetrics.java
@@ -38,14 +38,18 @@
             new Description("Number of messages published by the broker publisher")
                 .setRate()
                 .setUnit("messages"),
-            Field.ofString(PUBLISHER_SUCCESS_COUNTER, "Broker message published count"));
+            Field.ofString(PUBLISHER_SUCCESS_COUNTER)
+                .description("Broker message published count")
+                .build());
     this.brokerPublisherFailureCounter =
         metricMaker.newCounter(
             "multi_site/broker/broker_message_publisher_failure_counter",
             new Description("Number of messages failed to publish by the broker publisher")
                 .setRate()
                 .setUnit("errors"),
-            Field.ofString(PUBLISHER_FAILURE_COUNTER, "Broker failed to publish message count"));
+            Field.ofString(PUBLISHER_FAILURE_COUNTER)
+                .description("Broker failed to publish message count")
+                .build());
   }
 
   public void incrementBrokerPublishedMessage() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/BatchRefUpdateValidator.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/BatchRefUpdateValidator.java
index 59b5753..33be190 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/BatchRefUpdateValidator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/BatchRefUpdateValidator.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.validation.dfsrefdb.SharedRefEnforcement;
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.validation.dfsrefdb.SharedRefEnforcement.EnforcePolicy;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import java.util.stream.Stream;
@@ -92,7 +93,7 @@
     }
 
     try (CloseableSet<AutoCloseable> locks = new CloseableSet<>()) {
-      checkIfLocalRefIsUpToDateWithSharedRefDb(refsToUpdate, locks);
+      refsToUpdate = compareAndGetLatestLocalRefs(refsToUpdate, locks);
       delegateUpdate.invoke();
       updateSharedRefDb(batchRefUpdate.getCommands().stream(), refsToUpdate);
     }
@@ -143,10 +144,12 @@
     return command.getNewId();
   }
 
-  private void checkIfLocalRefIsUpToDateWithSharedRefDb(
+  private List<RefPair> compareAndGetLatestLocalRefs(
       List<RefPair> refsToUpdate, CloseableSet<AutoCloseable> locks) throws IOException {
+    List<RefPair> latestRefsToUpdate = new ArrayList<>();
     for (RefPair refPair : refsToUpdate) {
-      checkIfLocalRefIsUpToDateWithSharedRefDb(refPair, locks);
+      latestRefsToUpdate.add(compareAndGetLatestLocalRef(refPair, locks));
     }
+    return latestRefsToUpdate;
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/RefUpdateValidator.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/RefUpdateValidator.java
index 18f8654..dec6ae4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/RefUpdateValidator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/RefUpdateValidator.java
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.validation;
 
+import static com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.validation.dfsrefdb.SharedRefDatabase.nullRef;
+
 import com.google.common.base.MoreObjects;
 import com.google.common.flogger.FluentLogger;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
@@ -26,6 +28,7 @@
 import com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.multisite.validation.dfsrefdb.SharedRefEnforcement.EnforcePolicy;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.HashMap;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Ref;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.RefDatabase;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.RefUpdate;
@@ -113,7 +116,7 @@
       throws IOException {
     try (CloseableSet<AutoCloseable> locks = new CloseableSet<>()) {
       RefPair refPairForUpdate = newRefPairFrom(refUpdate);
-      checkIfLocalRefIsUpToDateWithSharedRefDb(refPairForUpdate, locks);
+      compareAndGetLatestLocalRef(refPairForUpdate, locks);
       RefUpdate.Result result = refUpdateFunction.invoke();
       if (isSuccessful(result)) {
         updateSharedDbOrThrowExceptionFor(refPairForUpdate);
@@ -146,32 +149,39 @@
     }
   }
 
-  protected void checkIfLocalRefIsUpToDateWithSharedRefDb(
+  protected RefPair compareAndGetLatestLocalRef(
       RefPair refPair, CloseableSet<AutoCloseable> locks)
       throws SharedLockException, OutOfSyncException, IOException {
     String refName = refPair.getName();
     EnforcePolicy refEnforcementPolicy = refEnforcement.getPolicy(projectName, refName);
     if (refEnforcementPolicy == EnforcePolicy.IGNORED) {
-      return;
+      return refPair;
     }
 
-    Ref localRef = refPair.compareRef;
-
     locks.addResourceIfNotExist(
         String.format("%s-%s", projectName, refName),
         () -> sharedRefDb.lockRef(projectName, refName));
 
+    RefPair latestRefPair = getLatestLocalRef(refPair);
     boolean isInSync =
-        (localRef != null)
-            ? sharedRefDb.isUpToDate(projectName, localRef)
-            : !sharedRefDb.exists(projectName, refName);
+        (latestRefPair.compareRef.getObjectId().equals(ObjectId.zeroId()))
+            ? !sharedRefDb.exists(projectName, refName)
+            : sharedRefDb.isUpToDate(projectName, latestRefPair.compareRef);
 
     if (!isInSync) {
       validationMetrics.incrementSplitBrainPrevention();
 
       softFailBasedOnEnforcement(
-          new OutOfSyncException(projectName, localRef), refEnforcementPolicy);
+          new OutOfSyncException(projectName, latestRefPair.compareRef), refEnforcementPolicy);
     }
+
+    return latestRefPair;
+  }
+
+  private RefPair getLatestLocalRef(RefPair refPair) throws IOException {
+    Ref latestRef = refDb.exactRef(refPair.getName());
+    return new RefPair(
+        latestRef == null ? nullRef(refPair.getName()) : latestRef, refPair.putValue);
   }
 
   protected boolean isSuccessful(RefUpdate.Result result) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/ValidationMetrics.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/ValidationMetrics.java
index ee9c5e5..7f5c637 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/ValidationMetrics.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/ValidationMetrics.java
@@ -35,17 +35,17 @@
         metricMaker.newCounter(
             "multi_site/validation/git_update_split_brain_prevented",
             new Description("Rate of REST API error responses").setRate().setUnit("errors"),
-            Field.ofString(
-                GIT_UPDATE_SPLIT_BRAIN_PREVENTED,
-                "Ref-update operations, split-brain detected and prevented"));
+            Field.ofString(GIT_UPDATE_SPLIT_BRAIN_PREVENTED)
+                .description("Ref-update operations, split-brain detected and prevented")
+                .build());
 
     this.splitBrainCounter =
         metricMaker.newCounter(
             "multi_site/validation/git_update_split_brain",
             new Description("Rate of REST API error responses").setRate().setUnit("errors"),
-            Field.ofString(
-                GIT_UPDATE_SPLIT_BRAIN,
-                "Ref-update operation left node in a split-brain scenario"));
+            Field.ofString(GIT_UPDATE_SPLIT_BRAIN)
+                .description("Ref-update operation left node in a split-brain scenario")
+                .build());
   }
 
   public void incrementSplitBrainPrevention() {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/MultiSiteBatchRefUpdateTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/MultiSiteBatchRefUpdateTest.java
index 45600d0..50c1c90 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/MultiSiteBatchRefUpdateTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/MultiSiteBatchRefUpdateTest.java
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@
         .thenReturn(asList(successReceiveCommandAfterExecution));
 
     doReturn(oldRef).when(refDatabase).getRef(A_TEST_REF_NAME);
+    doReturn(oldRef).when(refDatabase).exactRef(A_TEST_REF_NAME);
 
     multiSiteRefUpdate = getMultiSiteBatchRefUpdateWithDefaultPolicyEnforcement();
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/RefUpdateValidatorTest.java b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/RefUpdateValidatorTest.java
index e7624bd..d95860c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/RefUpdateValidatorTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/multisite/validation/RefUpdateValidatorTest.java
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@
     localRef = newRef(refName, AN_OBJECT_ID_3);
 
     doReturn(localRef).when(localRefDb).getRef(refName);
+    doReturn(localRef).when(localRefDb).exactRef(refName);
     doReturn(oldUpdateRef).when(refUpdate).getRef();
     doReturn(newUpdateRef.getObjectId()).when(refUpdate).getNewObjectId();
     doReturn(refName).when(refUpdate).getName();