diff --git a/playbooks/add_mariadb_repo.yaml b/playbooks/add_mariadb_repo.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..54be49ba3d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/add_mariadb_repo.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+- hosts: all
+  roles:
+    - add_mariadb_repo
diff --git a/roles/add_mariadb_repo/tasks/main.yaml b/roles/add_mariadb_repo/tasks/main.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ddf54d00b50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/add_mariadb_repo/tasks/main.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+- name: Add apt key from hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80
+  shell:
+    cmd: apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 0xF1656F24C74CD1D8
+    executable: /bin/bash
+  become: yes
+  when:
+    - ansible_facts['distribution_release'] == "bionic"
+    - ansible_facts['distribution'] == "Ubuntu"
+
+- name: Add MariaDB 10.3 repository (https://bugs.launchpad.net/neutron/+bug/1855912)
+  apt_repository:
+    repo: deb [arch=amd64,arm64,ppc64el] http://ftp.hosteurope.de/mirror/mariadb.org/repo/10.3/ubuntu bionic main
+    state: present
+  become: yes
+  when:
+    - ansible_facts['distribution_release'] == "bionic"
+    - ansible_facts['distribution'] == "Ubuntu"
diff --git a/zuul.d/tempest-singlenode.yaml b/zuul.d/tempest-singlenode.yaml
index 8710e9de5cd..cbf5f232129 100644
--- a/zuul.d/tempest-singlenode.yaml
+++ b/zuul.d/tempest-singlenode.yaml
@@ -117,6 +117,9 @@
     vars:
       devstack_localrc:
         MYSQL_SERVICE_NAME: mariadb
+    # NOTE(ralonsoh): once MariaDB default version in Ubuntu is bumped to
+    # >10.1, this workaround can be removed (bug 1855912)
+    pre-run: playbooks/add_mariadb_repo.yaml
     irrelevant-files: *irrelevant-files
 
 - job: