diff --git a/tests/docker/docker.py b/tests/docker/docker.py
index b279836154e1547a4ff76ee4bf02fb297991bd70..69e7130db7c7714327b335121b3ee0479d6a51f8 100755
--- a/tests/docker/docker.py
+++ b/tests/docker/docker.py
@@ -113,6 +113,10 @@ def _copy_binary_with_libs(src, dest_dir):
             _copy_with_mkdir(l , dest_dir, so_path)
 
 def _read_qemu_dockerfile(img_name):
+    # special case for Debian linux-user images
+    if img_name.startswith("debian") and img_name.endswith("user"):
+        img_name = "debian-bootstrap"
+
     df = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "dockerfiles",
                       img_name + ".docker")
     return open(df, "r").read()