diff --git a/java/ql/integration-tests/java/buildless-inherit-trust-store/test.py b/java/ql/integration-tests/java/buildless-inherit-trust-store/test.py
index b69070ddf81a..93a527620e1e 100644
--- a/java/ql/integration-tests/java/buildless-inherit-trust-store/test.py
+++ b/java/ql/integration-tests/java/buildless-inherit-trust-store/test.py
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
 import subprocess
 import os
+import runs_on
 
 
 def test(codeql, java, cwd):
     # This serves the "repo" directory on https://locahost:4443
-    repo_server_process = subprocess.Popen(["python3", "../server.py"], cwd="repo")
+    command = ["python3", "../server.py"]
+    if runs_on.github_actions and runs_on.posix:
+        # On GitHub Actions, we saw the server timing out while running in parallel with other tests
+        # we work around that by running it with higher permissions
+        command = ["sudo"] + command
+    repo_server_process = subprocess.Popen(command, cwd="repo")
     certspath = cwd / "jdk8_shipped_cacerts_plus_cert_pem"
     # If we override MAVEN_OPTS, we'll break cross-test maven isolation, so we need to append to it instead
     maven_opts = os.environ["MAVEN_OPTS"] + f" -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore={certspath}"
diff --git a/java/ql/integration-tests/java/buildless-snapshot-repository/test.py b/java/ql/integration-tests/java/buildless-snapshot-repository/test.py
index 2241f2917b97..a4814e1f8a1e 100644
--- a/java/ql/integration-tests/java/buildless-snapshot-repository/test.py
+++ b/java/ql/integration-tests/java/buildless-snapshot-repository/test.py
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@ def test(codeql, java):
     # This serves the "repo" directory on http://localhost:9427
     command = ["python3", "-m", "http.server", "9427", "-b", "localhost"]
     if runs_on.github_actions and runs_on.posix:
-        # On GitHub Actions, we try to run the server with higher priority
-        command = ["sudo", "nice", "-n", "10"] + command
+        # On GitHub Actions, we saw the server timing out while running in parallel with other tests
+        # we work around that by running it with higher permissions
+        command = ["sudo"] + command
     repo_server_process = subprocess.Popen(
         command, cwd="repo"
     )