diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/run-tests.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/run-tests.yaml
index 68c459d..aaeca83 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/run-tests.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/run-tests.yaml
@@ -42,6 +42,40 @@ jobs:
           cache: 'npm'
           cache-dependency-path: Development/server/package-lock.json
 
+      - name: Install MongoDB runtime compatibility libraries
+        run: |
+          set -e
+
+          if command -v ldconfig >/dev/null 2>&1 && ldconfig -p | grep -q 'libcrypto.so.1.1'; then
+            echo "OpenSSL 1.1 compatibility already present"
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          if ! command -v apt-get >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            echo "apt-get is not available on this runner; cannot install libssl1.1 automatically"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          if command -v sudo >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            SUDO=sudo
+          else
+            SUDO=
+          fi
+
+          . /etc/os-release
+
+          if [ "${ID:-}" = "ubuntu" ]; then
+            echo "deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security main" | $SUDO tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/focal-security.list >/dev/null
+          elif [ "${ID:-}" = "debian" ]; then
+            echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main" | $SUDO tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bullseye.list >/dev/null
+          else
+            echo "Unsupported distro for automatic libssl1.1 install: ${ID:-unknown}"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          $SUDO apt-get update
+          $SUDO apt-get install -y libssl1.1
+
       - name: Install dependencies
         env:
             NPM_CONFIG_CACHE: /tmp/npm-cache
diff --git a/Development/server/tests/integration/jest.setup.js b/Development/server/tests/integration/jest.setup.js
index 3dbfc3f..7b182f1 100644
--- a/Development/server/tests/integration/jest.setup.js
+++ b/Development/server/tests/integration/jest.setup.js
@@ -34,8 +34,11 @@ async function connectDB() {
       binary: { version: MONGOMS_VERSION },
     });
   } catch (error) {
-    error.message = `${error.message}\nFailed to start mongodb-memory-server with MongoDB ${MONGOMS_VERSION}. ` +
-      'If this runner lacks AVX support, keep MONGOMS_VERSION pinned to a 4.4.x release.';
+    const runtimeHint = String(error.message).includes('libcrypto.so.1.1') || String(error.message).includes('libssl.so.1.1')
+      ? 'This runner is missing OpenSSL 1.1 compatibility libraries required by MongoDB 4.4.'
+      : 'If this runner lacks AVX support, keep MONGOMS_VERSION pinned to a 4.4.x release.';
+
+    error.message = `${error.message}\nFailed to start mongodb-memory-server with MongoDB ${MONGOMS_VERSION}. ${runtimeHint}`;
     throw error;
   }
   const uri = mongod.getUri();