diff --git a/chain/state/statetree.go b/chain/state/statetree.go
index a654d224b..fe932bfa1 100644
--- a/chain/state/statetree.go
+++ b/chain/state/statetree.go
@@ -395,6 +395,11 @@ func (st *StateTree) ForEach(f func(address.Address, *types.Actor) error) error
 	})
 }
 
+// Version returns the version of the StateTree data structure in use.
+func (st *StateTree) Version() builtin.Version {
+	return st.version
+}
+
 func Diff(oldTree, newTree *StateTree) (map[string]types.Actor, error) {
 	out := map[string]types.Actor{}
 
diff --git a/conformance/driver.go b/conformance/driver.go
index 66b6d0f8a..f43a8739d 100644
--- a/conformance/driver.go
+++ b/conformance/driver.go
@@ -122,6 +122,8 @@ func (d *Driver) ExecuteTipset(bs blockstore.Blockstore, ds ds.Batching, preroot
 
 // ExecuteMessage executes a conformance test vector message in a temporary VM.
 func (d *Driver) ExecuteMessage(bs blockstore.Blockstore, preroot cid.Cid, epoch abi.ChainEpoch, msg *types.Message) (*vm.ApplyRet, cid.Cid, error) {
+	// dummy state manager; only to reference the GetNetworkVersion method, which does not depend on state.
+	sm := new(stmgr.StateManager)
 	vmOpts := &vm.VMOpts{
 		StateBase:      preroot,
 		Epoch:          epoch,
@@ -130,6 +132,7 @@ func (d *Driver) ExecuteMessage(bs blockstore.Blockstore, preroot cid.Cid, epoch
 		Syscalls:       mkFakedSigSyscalls(vm.Syscalls(ffiwrapper.ProofVerifier)), // TODO always succeeds; need more flexibility.
 		CircSupplyCalc: nil,
 		BaseFee:        BaseFee,
+		NtwkVersion:    sm.GetNtwkVersion,
 	}
 
 	lvm, err := vm.NewVM(context.TODO(), vmOpts)