diff --git a/install_puppet.sh b/install_puppet.sh
index 27792caceb..30ee15b2b7 100755
--- a/install_puppet.sh
+++ b/install_puppet.sh
@@ -135,6 +135,20 @@ function setup_puppet_fedora {
 }
 
 function setup_puppet_rhel7 {
+    # install a bootstrap epel repo to install latest epel-release
+    # package (which provides correct gpg keys, etc); then remove
+    # boostrap
+    cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/epel-bootstrap.repo <<EOF
+[epel-bootstrap]
+name=Bootstrap EPEL
+mirrorlist=https://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/mirrorlist?repo=epel-7&arch=\$basearch
+failovermethod=priority
+enabled=0
+gpgcheck=0
+EOF
+    yum --enablerepo=epel-bootstrap -y install epel-release
+    rm -f /etc/yum.repos.d/epel-bootstrap.repo
+
     _systemd_update
     yum update -y