diff --git a/tests/cts/hostside/Android.bp b/tests/cts/hostside/Android.bp
index 0f87dc2bfe..3050d9a15e 100644
--- a/tests/cts/hostside/Android.bp
+++ b/tests/cts/hostside/Android.bp
@@ -27,6 +27,16 @@ java_defaults {
     name: "CtsHostsideNetworkTestsAllAppDefaults",
     platform_apis: true,
     min_sdk_version: "30",
+    // Set target SDK to 10000 so that all the test helper apps are always subject to the most
+    // recent (and possibly most restrictive) target SDK behaviour. Also, this matches the target
+    // SDK of the tests themselves, and of other tests such as CtsNetTestCases.
+    // Note that some of the test helper apps (e.g., CtsHostsideNetworkCapTestsAppSdk33) override
+    // this with older SDK versions.
+    // Also note that unlike android_test targets, "current" does not work: the target SDK is set to
+    // something like "VanillaIceCream" instead of 100000. This means that the tests will not run on
+    // released devices with errors such as "Requires development platform VanillaIceCream but this
+    // is a release platform".
+    target_sdk_version: "10000",
 }
 
 java_test_host {