diff --git a/helper b/helper
index ca0e9f9..ae1d9e7 100644
--- a/helper
+++ b/helper
@@ -238,15 +238,28 @@ git_clone_if_missing() {
 setup_mariadb() {
     local mariapwd="$1" dbname="$2" dbuser="$3" dbpass="$4"
 
-    if [[ -z "$mariapwd" || -z "$dbname" || -z "$dbuser" || -z "$dbpass" ]]; then
-        echo "Error: setup_mariadb requires mariapwd, dbname, dbuser, dbpass"
-        exit 1
-    fi
+if [[ -z "$mariapwd" || -z "$dbname" || -z "$dbuser" || -z "$dbpass" ]]; then
+    echo "Error: setup_mariadb requires mariapwd, dbname, dbuser, dbpass"
+    exit 1
+fi
 
-mysql -u root -p"$mariapwd" <<EOF
+# Create a temporary MySQL defaults file
+local tmpfile
+tmpfile=$(mktemp)
+cat >"$tmpfile" <<EOF
+[client]
+user=root
+password=$mariapwd
+EOF
+
+# Execute the SQL safely using the temporary file
+mysql --defaults-extra-file="$tmpfile" <<EOF
 CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS \`$dbname\`;
 CREATE USER IF NOT EXISTS '$dbuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '$dbpass';
 GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON \`$dbname\`.* TO '$dbuser'@'localhost';
 FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
 EOF
+
+# Remove the temporary file
+rm -f "$tmpfile"
 }