diff --git a/.github/workflows/commitlint.yaml b/.github/workflows/commitlint.yaml
index d04a69d29..353d810e5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/commitlint.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/commitlint.yaml
@@ -11,5 +11,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
       - name: commitlint
-        run: CONTAINER_CMD=docker make containerized-test TARGET=commitlint
+        # yamllint disable-line rule:line-length
+        run: make containerized-test CONTAINER_CMD=docker TARGET=commitlint GIT_SINCE="origin/${GITHUB_BASE_REF}"
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b1bbb12aa..1b89d2662 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ commitlint: REBASE ?= 0
 commitlint:
 	git fetch -v $(shell cut -d/ -f1 <<< "$(GIT_SINCE)") $(shell cut -d/ -f2- <<< "$(GIT_SINCE)")
 	@test $(REBASE) -eq 0 || git -c user.name=commitlint -c user.email=commitline@localhost rebase FETCH_HEAD
-	commitlint --from FETCH_HEAD
+	commitlint --verbose --from $(GIT_SINCE)
 
 .PHONY: cephcsi
 cephcsi: check-env