diff --git a/tests/integration_tests/build/test_gh_release.py b/tests/integration_tests/build/test_gh_release.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..da0053ef126
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/integration_tests/build/test_gh_release.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Copyright 2026 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+"""Tests for the GitHub release helper."""
+
+import importlib
+import sys
+import tarfile
+from pathlib import Path
+
+TOOLS_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[3] / "tools"
+sys.path.insert(0, str(TOOLS_DIR))
+
+gh_release = importlib.import_module("gh_release")
+
+
+def test_build_tarball_excludes_custom_cpu_templates(tmp_path):
+    """Custom CPU templates are already available in the repository."""
+    tag_version = "v1.15.0"
+    release_dir = tmp_path / f"release-{tag_version}-x86_64"
+    release_dir.mkdir()
+    included_assets = [
+        f"firecracker-{tag_version}-x86_64",
+        f"firecracker_spec-{tag_version}.yaml",
+        f"seccomp-filter-{tag_version}-x86_64.json",
+    ]
+    excluded_assets = [
+        f"C3-{tag_version}.json",
+        f"GNR_TO_T2_5.10-{tag_version}.json",
+        "RELEASE_NOTES",
+        "SHA256SUMS.sig",
+    ]
+    for asset in included_assets + excluded_assets:
+        (release_dir / asset).write_text("test asset", encoding="utf-8")
+
+    release_tgz = tmp_path / f"firecracker-{tag_version}-x86_64.tgz"
+    gh_release.build_tarball(release_dir, release_tgz, "x86_64", tag_version)
+
+    with tarfile.open(release_tgz) as tar:
+        tar_assets = {Path(member.name).name for member in tar.getmembers()}
+
+    assert tar_assets == set(included_assets)
diff --git a/tools/gh_release.py b/tools/gh_release.py
index ae43c5797d6..d2dba22eacd 100755
--- a/tools/gh_release.py
+++ b/tools/gh_release.py
@@ -14,10 +14,12 @@
 import tarfile
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from github import Github
+CUSTOM_CPU_TEMPLATE_DIR = (
+    Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent / "tests/data/custom_cpu_templates"
+)
 
 
-def build_tarball(release_dir, release_tgz, arch):
+def build_tarball(release_dir, release_tgz, arch, tag_version):
     """Build a release tarball with local assets"""
     # Do not include signatures in GitHub release since we aren't
     # making those keys public.
@@ -26,7 +28,10 @@ def build_tarball(release_dir, release_tgz, arch):
     exclude_files = {
         "RELEASE_NOTES",
         "SHA256SUMS.sig",
-        *[f.stem for f in Path("tests/data/custom_cpu_templates").glob("*.json")],
+        *[
+            f"{template_path.stem}-{tag_version}.json"
+            for template_path in CUSTOM_CPU_TEMPLATE_DIR.glob("*.json")
+        ],
     }
     with tarfile.open(release_tgz, "w:gz") as tar:
         files = [x for x in release_dir.rglob("*") if x.is_file()]
@@ -43,6 +48,9 @@ def build_tarball(release_dir, release_tgz, arch):
 
 def github_release(tag_version, repo, github_token):
     """Create a draft release in GitHub"""
+    # Import lazily so tarball-building helpers can be tested without PyGithub.
+    from github import Github  # pylint: disable=import-outside-toplevel
+
     prerelease = False
     assets = []
     for arch in ["x86_64", "aarch64"]:
@@ -50,7 +58,7 @@ def github_release(tag_version, repo, github_token):
         # Build tarball
         release_tgz = Path(f"firecracker-{tag_version}-{arch}.tgz")
         print(f"Creating release archive {release_tgz} ...")
-        build_tarball(release_dir, release_tgz, arch)
+        build_tarball(release_dir, release_tgz, arch, tag_version)
         print("Done. Archive successfully created. sha256sum result:")
         sha256sums = release_tgz.with_suffix(release_tgz.suffix + ".sha256.txt")
         subprocess.run(