diff --git a/scripts/postinst-intercepts/update_mandb b/scripts/postinst-intercepts/update_mandb
index a061bb426a6..6bc073bfff5 100644
--- a/scripts/postinst-intercepts/update_mandb
+++ b/scripts/postinst-intercepts/update_mandb
@@ -13,4 +13,4 @@ PSEUDO_UNLOAD=1 ${binprefix}qemuwrapper -L $D $D${bindir}/mandb --config-file $C
 
 rm -f $CONFIG
 
-chown -R man:man $D${localstatedir}/cache/man/
+PSEUDO_PASSWD=$D chown -R man:man $D${localstatedir}/cache/man/