diff --git a/ci/test/pipeline.template.yml b/ci/test/pipeline.template.yml
index 11aad15e2168a..7d39813ac9045 100644
--- a/ci/test/pipeline.template.yml
+++ b/ci/test/pipeline.template.yml
@@ -282,7 +282,6 @@ steps:
 
   - id: legacy-upgrade
     label: Legacy upgrade tests (last version from docs)
-    skip: "failing, to be addressed with #25321"
     depends_on: build-aarch64
     timeout_in_minutes: 60
     artifact_paths: junit_*.xml
diff --git a/test/legacy-upgrade/mzcompose.py b/test/legacy-upgrade/mzcompose.py
index deb0ed248021b..cf2b557694a1f 100644
--- a/test/legacy-upgrade/mzcompose.py
+++ b/test/legacy-upgrade/mzcompose.py
@@ -42,7 +42,11 @@
         options=list(mz_options.values()),
         volumes_extra=["secrets:/share/secrets"],
         external_cockroach=True,
-        catalog_store="stash",
+        # This test will skip versions when testing certain upgrade paths. The persist catalog
+        # will panic if a version is skipped when upgrading. Even when using the stash
+        # implementation we open the persist catalog, which will cause the panic. To avoid this, we
+        # use the emergency-stash, which doesn't even attempt to open the persist catalog.
+        catalog_store="emergency-stash",
     ),
     # N.B.: we need to use `validate_catalog_store=None` because testdrive uses
     # HEAD to load the catalog from disk but does *not* run migrations. There
@@ -141,7 +145,7 @@ def test_upgrade_from_version(
             ],
             volumes_extra=["secrets:/share/secrets"],
             external_cockroach=True,
-            catalog_store="stash",
+            catalog_store="emergency-stash",
         )
         with c.override(mz_from):
             c.up("materialized")