Require approval for specific categories?

I can’t say for sure, there’s only one install method that we support here, I’ve not seen an unknown version returned with a supportable install. It’s possible you’re using a third-party package which means we’re going to be unable to help you.

Whatever you do I would recommend having a staging copy upgraded first, with no idea which version you’re upgrading from and other plugins you’re running there are just too many unknowns.