diff --git a/js/functions.js b/js/functions.js
index c9e9691947..634e7c9eed 100644
--- a/js/functions.js
+++ b/js/functions.js
@@ -129,7 +129,10 @@ function PMA_current_version(data)
     if (data && data.version && data.date) {
         var current = parseVersionString(pmaversion);
         var latest = parseVersionString(data.version);
-        var version_information_message = PMA_messages.strLatestAvailable + ' ' + escapeHtml(data.version);
+        var version_information_message = '<span>'
+            + PMA_messages.strLatestAvailable
+            + ' ' + escapeHtml(data.version)
+            + '</span>';
         if (latest > current) {
             var message = $.sprintf(
                 PMA_messages.strNewerVersion,
@@ -146,6 +149,7 @@ function PMA_current_version(data)
         if (latest === current) {
             version_information_message = ' (' + PMA_messages.strUpToDate + ')';
         }
+        $('#li_pma_version span').remove();
         $('#li_pma_version').append(version_information_message);
     }
 }
@@ -156,6 +160,7 @@ function PMA_current_version(data)
 function PMA_display_git_revision()
 {
     $('#is_git_revision').remove();
+    $('#li_pma_version_git').remove();
     $.get(
         "index.php",
         {
diff --git a/libraries/Config.class.php b/libraries/Config.class.php
index 46da6c871e..25cacfaf4a 100644
--- a/libraries/Config.class.php
+++ b/libraries/Config.class.php
@@ -753,7 +753,9 @@ class PMA_Config
         curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, 5);
         curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, 'phpMyAdmin/' . PMA_VERSION);
         curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 5);
+        session_write_close();
         $data = @curl_exec($ch);
+        session_start();
         if ($data === false) {
             return null;
         }
diff --git a/libraries/Util.class.php b/libraries/Util.class.php
index 3fbdf06369..8d9fd8ea52 100644
--- a/libraries/Util.class.php
+++ b/libraries/Util.class.php
@@ -4204,6 +4204,7 @@ class PMA_Util
                             = 'Proxy-Authorization: Basic ' . $auth;
                     }
                 }
+                session_write_close();
                 $response = file_get_contents(
                     $file,
                     false,
@@ -4241,6 +4242,7 @@ class PMA_Util
                     CURLOPT_TIMEOUT,
                     $connection_timeout
                 );
+                session_write_close();
                 $response = curl_exec($curl_handle);
             }
         }
@@ -4251,6 +4253,7 @@ class PMA_Util
             && strlen($data->date)
             && $save
         ) {
+            session_start();
             $_SESSION['cache']['version_check'] = array(
                 'response' => $response,
                 'timestamp' => time()