diff --git a/packages/addons/service/mariadb/changelog.txt b/packages/addons/service/mariadb/changelog.txt
index e9337ad2fd..4bd63214e1 100644
--- a/packages/addons/service/mariadb/changelog.txt
+++ b/packages/addons/service/mariadb/changelog.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+102
+- do not change password on addon update
+
 101
 - update MariaDB to 10.3.12
   removed optimizer_search_depth from config file to speed it up
diff --git a/packages/addons/service/mariadb/package.mk b/packages/addons/service/mariadb/package.mk
index 25ab5ecd8b..a1c4b18d12 100644
--- a/packages/addons/service/mariadb/package.mk
+++ b/packages/addons/service/mariadb/package.mk
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 PKG_NAME="mariadb"
 PKG_VERSION="10.3.12"
-PKG_REV="101"
+PKG_REV="102"
 PKG_SHA256="f7449a34c25e0455928d7983dae83fd2069fe1f16c4c5f4aeed9ed9d3f081ff6"
 PKG_LICENSE="GPL2"
 PKG_SITE="https://mariadb.org"
diff --git a/packages/addons/service/mariadb/source/bin/mariadb.start b/packages/addons/service/mariadb/source/bin/mariadb.start
index c3094f349c..66d384188b 100755
--- a/packages/addons/service/mariadb/source/bin/mariadb.start
+++ b/packages/addons/service/mariadb/source/bin/mariadb.start
@@ -16,20 +16,6 @@ if [ -n "$PID" ]; then
   exit 0
 fi
 
-# check for first run and generate passwords
-DEF_XML="$ADDON_DIR/settings-default.xml"
-CUR_XML="$ADDON_HOME/settings.xml"
-
-if grep -q "@MYSQL_ROOT_PASS@" $DEF_XML; then
-  MYSQL_ROOT_PASS="$(head /dev/urandom | tr -dc A-Za-z0-9 | head -c 8)"
-  MYSQL_KODI_PASS="$(head /dev/urandom | tr -dc A-Za-z0-9 | head -c 8)"
-
-  sed -i "s|@MYSQL_ROOT_PASS@|$MYSQL_ROOT_PASS|g" $DEF_XML
-  sed -i "s|@MYSQL_KODI_PASS@|$MYSQL_KODI_PASS|g" $DEF_XML
-
-  cp $DEF_XML $CUR_XML
-fi
-
 # copy config file
 if [ ! -f $ADDON_HOME/my.cnf ]; then
   cp $ADDON_DIR/config/my.cnf $ADDON_HOME
@@ -41,19 +27,28 @@ if [ ! -d "$ADDON_HOME/data/mysql" ]; then
   $ADDON_DIR/bin/mysql_install_db --basedir=$ADDON_DIR --datadir=$ADDON_HOME/data
 fi
 
+# check for first run and generate passwords
+if grep -q "@MYSQL_ROOT_PASS@" $ADDON_HOME/settings.xml; then
+  MYSQL_ROOT_PASS="$(head /dev/urandom | tr -dc A-Za-z0-9 | head -c 8)"
+  MYSQL_KODI_PASS="$(head /dev/urandom | tr -dc A-Za-z0-9 | head -c 8)"
+
+  sed -e "s|@MYSQL_ROOT_PASS@|$MYSQL_ROOT_PASS|g" \
+      -e "s|@MYSQL_KODI_PASS@|$MYSQL_KODI_PASS|g" \
+      -i $ADDON_HOME/settings.xml
+fi
+
 # init script to create user kodi and change passwords
 init_file=""
-if [[ ! -f $ADDON_DIR/set_mysql_passwords.sql ]] || [[ $CUR_XML -nt $ADDON_DIR/set_mysql_passwords.sql ]]; then
-  cat << SQL_DATA > $ADDON_DIR/set_mysql_passwords.sql
+if [[ ! -f $ADDON_HOME/set_mysql_passwords.sql ]] || [[ $ADDON_HOME/settings.xml -nt $ADDON_HOME/set_mysql_passwords.sql ]]; then
+  cat << SQL_DATA > $ADDON_HOME/set_mysql_passwords.sql
 SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost'=PASSWORD('$MYSQL_ROOT_PASS');
 CREATE USER IF NOT EXISTS 'kodi';
 SET PASSWORD FOR 'kodi'=PASSWORD('$MYSQL_KODI_PASS');
 GRANT ALL ON *.* TO 'kodi';
 flush privileges;
-
 SQL_DATA
 
-  init_file="--init-file=$ADDON_DIR/set_mysql_passwords.sql"
+  init_file="--init-file=$ADDON_HOME/set_mysql_passwords.sql"
 fi
 
 echo "Starting mysqld"