diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.sh b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.sh
index c1a5ede3833..cf9dd19151e 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.sh
@@ -42,6 +42,12 @@ set -ex
 
 MESON_ARGS=(-Dcryptolib=${CRYPTOLIB:-auto})
 
+# (Re)set the current oom-{score-}adj. For some reason root on GH actions is able to _decrease_
+# its oom-score even after dropping all capabilities (including CAP_SYS_RESOURCE), until the
+# score is explicitly changed after sudo. No idea what's going on, but it breaks
+# exec-oomscoreadjust-negative.service from test-execute when running unprivileged.
+choom -p $$ -n 0
+
 for phase in "${PHASES[@]}"; do
     case $phase in
         SETUP)
@@ -53,6 +59,11 @@ for phase in "${PHASES[@]}"; do
             apt-get -y build-dep systemd
             apt-get -y install "${ADDITIONAL_DEPS[@]}"
             pip3 install -r .github/workflows/requirements.txt --require-hashes
+
+            # Make sure the build dir is accessible even when drop privileges, otherwise the unprivileged
+            # part of test-execute gets skipped, since it can't run systemd-executor
+            chmod o+x /home/runner
+            capsh --drop=all -- -c "stat $PWD/meson.build"
             ;;
         RUN|RUN_GCC|RUN_CLANG|RUN_CLANG_RELEASE)
             if [[ "$phase" =~ ^RUN_CLANG ]]; then