diff --git a/services/github/github-common-fetch.js b/services/github/github-common-fetch.js
index 861facaa495f299ef3c4a1064f22d79264b2036d..7c216b274b082d4df44da6c0c2aca12283ded7a6 100644
--- a/services/github/github-common-fetch.js
+++ b/services/github/github-common-fetch.js
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ async function fetchRepoContent(
 
 async function fetchJsonFromRepo(
   serviceInstance,
-  { schema, user, repo, branch = 'master', filename }
+  { schema, user, repo, branch = 'HEAD', filename }
 ) {
   if (serviceInstance.staticAuthConfigured) {
     const buffer = await fetchRepoContent(serviceInstance, {