diff --git a/CHANGES/1772.bugfix b/CHANGES/1772.bugfix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8140a7b5c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGES/1772.bugfix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fixed a bug failing sync on namespace metadata when avatar_sha256 is missing.
diff --git a/functest_requirements.txt b/functest_requirements.txt
index f0478ef1b..11714ef10 100644
--- a/functest_requirements.txt
+++ b/functest_requirements.txt
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@ numpy
 requests
 proxy.py~=2.4.3
 trustme~=1.1.0
+pulp-smash @ git+https://github.com/pulp/pulp-smash.git
diff --git a/pulp_ansible/app/models.py b/pulp_ansible/app/models.py
index 30ca370f4..960bffd5c 100644
--- a/pulp_ansible/app/models.py
+++ b/pulp_ansible/app/models.py
@@ -332,16 +332,9 @@ class AnsibleNamespaceMetadata(Content):
 
     @property
     def avatar_artifact(self):
-        if self.avatar_sha256:
-            avatar = self._artifacts.filter(sha256=self.avatar_sha256).first()
-            if avatar is None:
-                log.debug(
-                    f"Artifact({self.avatar_sha256}) is missing for namespace avatar "
-                    f"{self.name}:{self.metadata_sha256}"
-                )
-            return avatar
-
-        return None
+        return self._artifacts.filter(
+            content_memberships__relative_path=f"{self.name}-avatar"
+        ).first()
 
     @hook(BEFORE_SAVE)
     def calculate_metadata_sha256(self):
diff --git a/pulp_ansible/app/serializers.py b/pulp_ansible/app/serializers.py
index 4727101aa..a523189d4 100644
--- a/pulp_ansible/app/serializers.py
+++ b/pulp_ansible/app/serializers.py
@@ -862,15 +862,17 @@ def get_avatar_url(self, obj):
             return None
 
     def validate(self, data):
-        """Check that avatar_sha256 is set if avatar was present in upload."""
         if self.instance:
             if (name := data.get("name", None)) and name != self.instance.name:
                 raise serializers.ValidationError(_("Name can not be changed in an update"))
 
+        # Check that avatar_sha256 is set if avatar was present in upload.
         if "artifact" in self.context:
-            if "avatar_sh256" not in data:
-                avatar_artifact = Artifact.objects.get(pk=self.context["artifact"])
+            avatar_artifact = Artifact.objects.get(pk=self.context["artifact"])
+            if data.get("avatar_sha256") is None:
                 data["avatar_sha256"] = avatar_artifact.sha256
+            elif data["avatar_sha256"] != avatar_artifact.sha256:
+                raise serializers.ValidationError(_("Avatar does not match expected digest."))
 
         return super().validate(data)
 
diff --git a/pulp_ansible/app/tasks/collections.py b/pulp_ansible/app/tasks/collections.py
index 7ba631f88..7f7cb011d 100644
--- a/pulp_ansible/app/tasks/collections.py
+++ b/pulp_ansible/app/tasks/collections.py
@@ -1154,13 +1154,12 @@ def _pre_save(self, batch):
                 d_content.content.namespace = namespace
                 if d_content.d_artifacts:
                     da = d_content.d_artifacts[0]
-                    # Check to see if avatar failed to download, update metadata if so
+                    # Check to see if avatar failed to download, update metadata if so,
+                    # so that the avatar should be attemtped to be downloaded again.
                     if da.deferred_download:
                         d_content.d_artifacts = None
                         d_content.content.avatar_sha256 = None
-                    # Check to see if upstream didn't have avatar_sha256 set
-                    elif d_content.content.avatar_sha256 is None:
-                        d_content.content.avatar_sha256 = da.artifact.sha256
+                        d_content.content.metadata_sha256 = None
 
     def _post_save(self, batch):
         """