diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index 52dde60f3..f5dd68f92 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -30,8 +30,6 @@ RUN pip install --upgrade pip && \
 RUN poetry install
 RUN rm -rf $POETRY_CACHE_DIR
 
-RUN addgroup -g 1001 -S app && adduser -u 1001 -S -G app app
-USER app
 
 ENTRYPOINT ["poetry", "run",  "bash", "startup.sh"]
 EXPOSE 8000
diff --git a/backend/startup.sh b/backend/startup.sh
index 415ad67d5..60394b277 100755
--- a/backend/startup.sh
+++ b/backend/startup.sh
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ fi
 
 if [ ! -n "$DJANGO_SECRET_KEY" ]; then
   if [ ! -f db/django_secret_key ]; then
-    install -m 600 <(cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/uuid) db/django_secret_key
+    cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/uuid >db/django_secret_key
     echo "generating initial Django secret key"
   fi
   export DJANGO_SECRET_KEY=$(<db/django_secret_key)
diff --git a/frontend/Dockerfile b/frontend/Dockerfile
index 892b2d805..93c67ca09 100644
--- a/frontend/Dockerfile
+++ b/frontend/Dockerfile
@@ -22,7 +22,5 @@ EXPOSE 3000
 ENV NODE_ENV=production
 ENV BODY_SIZE_LIMIT=20000000
 
-RUN addgroup -g 1001 -S app && adduser -u 1001 -S -G app app
-USER app
 
 CMD [ "node", "server" ]