diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 55df502a5eacd70501c2e8e20160a5fcc40a2d4f..09fa01c3043a7362de542e4cd29959606c73b6b5 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 
 variables:
   CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE: $CI_REGISTRY/caosdb-mysqlbackend-testenv:latest
+  MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: caosdb1234
 
 image: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE
 stages:
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@ trigger_build:
       -F ref=dev https://gitlab.indiscale.com/api/v4/projects/14/trigger/pipeline
 
 unittests:
+  image: mariadb:10.4
   tags: [ docker ]
   stage: test
   script: