Merge branch 'fix-protected-environment-init-errors' into 'master'

Fix error with initialization of protected environments feature

See merge request https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/125985



Merged-by: Jacques Erasmus <jerasmus@gitlab.com>
Approved-by: Tomas Vik <tvik@gitlab.com>
Approved-by: Jacques Erasmus <jerasmus@gitlab.com>
Co-authored-by: ShaneMaglangit <shanedmaglangit@gmail.com>