diff --git a/pkg/autogen/autogen_test.go b/pkg/autogen/autogen_test.go
index 62e1e08912..95d1ac60a9 100644
--- a/pkg/autogen/autogen_test.go
+++ b/pkg/autogen/autogen_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"reflect"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -543,6 +544,47 @@ func Test_CronJobAndDeployment(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.DeepEqual(t, rulePatches, expectedPatches)
 }
 
+func TestUpdateGenRuleByte(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		pbyte   []byte
+		kind    string
+		want    []byte
+		wantErr bool
+	}{
+		{
+			pbyte: []byte("request.object.spec"),
+			kind:  "Pod",
+			want:  []byte("request.object.spec.template.spec"),
+		},
+		{
+			pbyte: []byte("request.oldObject.spec"),
+			kind:  "Pod",
+			want:  []byte("request.oldObject.spec.template.spec"),
+		},
+		{
+			pbyte: []byte("request.object.spec"),
+			kind:  "Cronjob",
+			want:  []byte("request.object.spec.jobTemplate.spec.template.spec"),
+		},
+		{
+			pbyte: []byte("request.oldObject.spec"),
+			kind:  "Cronjob",
+			want:  []byte("request.oldObject.spec.jobTemplate.spec.template.spec"),
+		},
+		{
+			pbyte: []byte("request.object.metadata"),
+			kind:  "Pod",
+			want:  []byte("request.object.spec.template.metadata"),
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		got := updateGenRuleByte(tt.pbyte, tt.kind)
+		if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, tt.want) {
+			t.Errorf("updateGenRuleByte() = %v, want %v", string(got), string(tt.want))
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func Test_UpdateVariablePath(t *testing.T) {
 	dir, err := os.Getwd()
 	baseDir := filepath.Dir(filepath.Dir(dir))
diff --git a/pkg/autogen/rule.go b/pkg/autogen/rule.go
index 1378d5161b..b9d331bc39 100644
--- a/pkg/autogen/rule.go
+++ b/pkg/autogen/rule.go
@@ -299,9 +299,11 @@ func generateCronJobRule(rule *kyvernov1.Rule, controllers string) *kyvernov1.Ru
 func updateGenRuleByte(pbyte []byte, kind string) (obj []byte) {
 	if kind == "Pod" {
 		obj = []byte(strings.ReplaceAll(string(pbyte), "request.object.spec", "request.object.spec.template.spec"))
+		obj = []byte(strings.ReplaceAll(string(obj), "request.oldObject.spec", "request.oldObject.spec.template.spec"))
 	}
 	if kind == "Cronjob" {
 		obj = []byte(strings.ReplaceAll(string(pbyte), "request.object.spec", "request.object.spec.jobTemplate.spec.template.spec"))
+		obj = []byte(strings.ReplaceAll(string(obj), "request.oldObject.spec", "request.oldObject.spec.jobTemplate.spec.template.spec"))
 	}
 	obj = []byte(strings.ReplaceAll(string(obj), "request.object.metadata", "request.object.spec.template.metadata"))
 	return obj