diff --git a/mariadb/Dockerfile b/mariadb/Dockerfile
index 6007aed8..7c2ba3fb 100644
--- a/mariadb/Dockerfile
+++ b/mariadb/Dockerfile
@@ -22,5 +22,7 @@ RUN --mount=type=cache,id=mariadb-apk-${TARGETARCH},sharing=locked,target=/var/c
 # base image. Set to 10 minutes just incase it ran on very old or overallocated
 # hardware.
 ENV S6_CMD_WAIT_FOR_SERVICES_MAXTIME=600000
+# Default value of 256 MB in bytes
+ENV DB_MAX_ALLOWED_PACKET=268435456
 
 COPY --link rootfs /
diff --git a/mariadb/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/set-max-packet/dependencies.d/ready b/mariadb/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/set-max-packet/dependencies.d/ready
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/mariadb/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/set-max-packet/type b/mariadb/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/set-max-packet/type
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bdd22a18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mariadb/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/set-max-packet/type
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+oneshot
diff --git a/mariadb/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/set-max-packet/up b/mariadb/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/set-max-packet/up
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..11e54fa8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mariadb/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/s6-rc.d/set-max-packet/up
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+/etc/s6-overlay/scripts/set-max-packet.sh
diff --git a/mariadb/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/scripts/set-max-packet.sh b/mariadb/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/scripts/set-max-packet.sh
index 961b8a95..86c30b49 100755
--- a/mariadb/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/scripts/set-max-packet.sh
+++ b/mariadb/rootfs/etc/s6-overlay/scripts/set-max-packet.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # shellcheck shell=bash
 set -e
 
-# Use what has been provided by the user or default to the derived values.
+# Use what has been provided by the user or default value of 256M
 cat <<EOF | /usr/local/bin/confd-import-environment.sh
     DB_MAX_ALLOWED_PACKET={{ getenv "DB_MAX_ALLOWED_PACKET" "${DB_MAX_ALLOWED_PACKET}" }}
 EOF