diff --git a/config/config.msft.yaml b/config/config.msft.yaml
index 22d5ffe29..fbcfc2dc8 100644
--- a/config/config.msft.yaml
+++ b/config/config.msft.yaml
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ defaults:
       istioctlVersion: "1.24.1"
       tag: "prod-stable"
       targetVersion: "asm-1-23"
-      versions: "\"asm-1-22\", \"asm-1-23\""
+      versions: "asm-1-22,asm-1-23"
 
   # MGMT cluster specifics
   mgmt:
diff --git a/config/config.schema.json b/config/config.schema.json
index 35e04e249..1c103e05d 100644
--- a/config/config.schema.json
+++ b/config/config.schema.json
@@ -674,12 +674,14 @@
                 "type": "string"
               },
               "versions": {
-                "description": "The current istio version in the AKS cluster, will need to change to array once tooling is ready",
-                "type": "array"
+                "description": "The current istio version in the AKS cluster as CSV, will need to change to array once tooling is ready",
+                "type": "string",
+                "pattern": "^[a-zA-Z0-9-]+(,[a-zA-Z0-9-]+)*$"
               },
               "targetVersion": {
                 "description": "The target istio version that will be updated to",
-                "type": "string"
+                "type": "string",
+                "pattern": "^[a-zA-Z0-9-]+$"
               }
             }
         }
diff --git a/config/config.yaml b/config/config.yaml
index 3353bb4f5..fe848b3cb 100644
--- a/config/config.yaml
+++ b/config/config.yaml
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ defaults:
     istio:
       istioctlVersion: "1.23.1"
       tag: "prod-stable"
-      targetVersion: ""
-      versions: ["asm-1-22"]
+      targetVersion: "asm-1-22"
+      versions: "asm-1-22"
 
   # MGMT cluster specifics
   mgmt:
@@ -264,12 +264,6 @@ clouds:
           vmSize: 'Standard_D2s_v3'
           osDiskSizeGB: 32
           azCount: 3
-        istio:
-          url: "https://github.com/istio/istio/releases/download"
-          istioctlVersion: "1.23.1"
-          tag: "prod-stable"
-          version: "asm-1-22"
-          targetVersion: ""
       mgmt:
         # MGMTM AKS nodepools - big enough for 2 HCPs
         systemAgentPool:
diff --git a/config/public-cloud-cs-pr.json b/config/public-cloud-cs-pr.json
index 05dffa2cc..7d9179597 100644
--- a/config/public-cloud-cs-pr.json
+++ b/config/public-cloud-cs-pr.json
@@ -160,12 +160,8 @@
     "istio": {
       "istioctlVersion": "1.23.1",
       "tag": "prod-stable",
-      "targetVersion": "",
-      "url": "https://github.com/istio/istio/releases/download",
-      "version": "asm-1-22",
-      "versions": [
-        "asm-1-22"
-      ]
+      "targetVersion": "asm-1-22",
+      "versions": "asm-1-22"
     },
     "rg": "hcp-underlay-cspr-svc",
     "subscription": "ARO Hosted Control Planes (EA Subscription 1)",
diff --git a/config/public-cloud-dev.json b/config/public-cloud-dev.json
index bc6b6776e..891dcc6c3 100644
--- a/config/public-cloud-dev.json
+++ b/config/public-cloud-dev.json
@@ -160,12 +160,8 @@
     "istio": {
       "istioctlVersion": "1.23.1",
       "tag": "prod-stable",
-      "targetVersion": "",
-      "url": "https://github.com/istio/istio/releases/download",
-      "version": "asm-1-22",
-      "versions": [
-        "asm-1-22"
-      ]
+      "targetVersion": "asm-1-22",
+      "versions": "asm-1-22"
     },
     "rg": "hcp-underlay-dev-svc",
     "subscription": "ARO Hosted Control Planes (EA Subscription 1)",
diff --git a/config/public-cloud-msft-int.json b/config/public-cloud-msft-int.json
index a7060f2d6..631a5809b 100644
--- a/config/public-cloud-msft-int.json
+++ b/config/public-cloud-msft-int.json
@@ -160,10 +160,7 @@
       "istioctlVersion": "1.24.1",
       "tag": "prod-stable",
       "targetVersion": "asm-1-23",
-      "versions": [
-        "asm-1-22",
-        "asm-1-23"
-      ]
+      "versions": "asm-1-22,asm-1-23"
     },
     "rg": "hcp-underlay-westus3-svc",
     "subscription": "hcp-westus3",
diff --git a/config/public-cloud-personal-dev.json b/config/public-cloud-personal-dev.json
index 620795f90..a6819053a 100644
--- a/config/public-cloud-personal-dev.json
+++ b/config/public-cloud-personal-dev.json
@@ -160,12 +160,8 @@
     "istio": {
       "istioctlVersion": "1.23.1",
       "tag": "prod-stable",
-      "targetVersion": "",
-      "url": "https://github.com/istio/istio/releases/download",
-      "version": "asm-1-22",
-      "versions": [
-        "asm-1-22"
-      ]
+      "targetVersion": "asm-1-22",
+      "versions": "asm-1-22"
     },
     "rg": "hcp-underlay-usw3tst-svc",
     "subscription": "ARO Hosted Control Planes (EA Subscription 1)",
diff --git a/dev-infrastructure/configurations/svc-cluster.tmpl.bicepparam b/dev-infrastructure/configurations/svc-cluster.tmpl.bicepparam
index 20f37500b..e0bece4f8 100644
--- a/dev-infrastructure/configurations/svc-cluster.tmpl.bicepparam
+++ b/dev-infrastructure/configurations/svc-cluster.tmpl.bicepparam
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 using '../templates/svc-cluster.bicep'
 
 param kubernetesVersion = '{{ .kubernetesVersion }}'
-param istioVersion = {{ .svc.istio.versions }}
+param istioVersions = '{{ .svc.istio.versions }}'
 param vnetAddressPrefix = '{{ .vnetAddressPrefix }}'
 param subnetPrefix = '{{ .subnetPrefix }}'
 param podSubnetPrefix = '{{ .podSubnetPrefix }}'
diff --git a/dev-infrastructure/modules/aks-cluster-base.bicep b/dev-infrastructure/modules/aks-cluster-base.bicep
index 431251e59..c778cae73 100644
--- a/dev-infrastructure/modules/aks-cluster-base.bicep
+++ b/dev-infrastructure/modules/aks-cluster-base.bicep
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ param persist bool = false
 
 param kubernetesVersion string
 param deployIstio bool
-param istioVersion array = ['asm-1-22']
+param istioVersions array = []
 param vnetAddressPrefix string
 param subnetPrefix string
 param podSubnetPrefix string
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ resource aksCluster 'Microsoft.ContainerService/managedClusters@2024-04-02-previ
                 }
               ]
             }
-            revisions: istioVersion
+            revisions: istioVersions
           }
         }
       : null
diff --git a/dev-infrastructure/templates/svc-cluster.bicep b/dev-infrastructure/templates/svc-cluster.bicep
index c723c0125..02578991d 100644
--- a/dev-infrastructure/templates/svc-cluster.bicep
+++ b/dev-infrastructure/templates/svc-cluster.bicep
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@ param podSubnetPrefix string
 @description('Kuberentes version to use with AKS')
 param kubernetesVersion string
 
-@description('Istio control plane version to use with AKS')
-param istioVersion array
+@description('Istio control plane versions to use with AKS. CSV format')
+param istioVersions string
 
 @description('The name of the keyvault for AKS.')
 @maxLength(24)
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ module svcCluster '../modules/aks-cluster-base.bicep' = {
     aksEtcdKVEnableSoftDelete: aksEtcdKVEnableSoftDelete
     kubernetesVersion: kubernetesVersion
     deployIstio: true
-    istioVersion: istioVersion
+    istioVersions: split(istioVersions, ',')
     vnetAddressPrefix: vnetAddressPrefix
     subnetPrefix: subnetPrefix
     podSubnetPrefix: podSubnetPrefix