diff --git a/app/controllers/admin/application_settings_controller.rb b/app/controllers/admin/application_settings_controller.rb
index 5ddeb9630baa68109dca77a5101e495cfc16a2d3..7960e5d64d0c509aa4e672a13c9d8c8d854902c2 100644
--- a/app/controllers/admin/application_settings_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/admin/application_settings_controller.rb
@@ -208,7 +208,10 @@ def application_setting_params
 
     params[:application_setting][:import_sources]&.delete("")
     params[:application_setting][:restricted_visibility_levels]&.delete("")
-    params[:application_setting][:required_instance_ci_template] = nil if params[:application_setting][:required_instance_ci_template].blank?
+
+    if params[:application_setting].key?(:required_instance_ci_template)
+      params[:application_setting][:required_instance_ci_template] = nil if params[:application_setting][:required_instance_ci_template].empty?
+    end
 
     remove_blank_params_for!(:elasticsearch_aws_secret_access_key, :eks_secret_access_key)
 
@@ -217,9 +220,7 @@ def application_setting_params
     params.delete(:domain_denylist_raw) if params[:domain_denylist]
     params.delete(:domain_allowlist_raw) if params[:domain_allowlist]
 
-    params.require(:application_setting).permit(
-      visible_application_setting_attributes
-    )
+    params[:application_setting].permit(visible_application_setting_attributes)
   end
 
   def recheck_user_consent?
diff --git a/ee/spec/controllers/admin/application_settings_controller_spec.rb b/ee/spec/controllers/admin/application_settings_controller_spec.rb
index d4f70a6ceb197f6434f7cbb346a0b257bb2df7ae..ac4e33e5918bbe1a812687786e358994fef12f46 100644
--- a/ee/spec/controllers/admin/application_settings_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/ee/spec/controllers/admin/application_settings_controller_spec.rb
@@ -194,6 +194,14 @@
             expect(ApplicationSetting.current.required_instance_ci_template).to be_nil
           end
         end
+
+        context 'without key' do
+          it 'does not set required_instance_ci_template to nil' do
+            put :update, params: { application_setting: {} }
+
+            expect(ApplicationSetting.current.required_instance_ci_template).to be == 'Auto-DevOps'
+          end
+        end
       end
     end