diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 8d7f205b7ab..41267187e06 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ PHP                                                                        NEWS
   . Updated to LiteSpeed SAPI V7.5 (Fixed clean shutdown). (George Wang)
 
 - MySQLnd:
+  . Fixed bug #78179 (MariaDB server version incorrectly detected). (cmb)
   . Fixed bug #78213 (Empty row pocket). (cmb)
 
 - Standard:
diff --git a/ext/mysqlnd/mysqlnd_connection.c b/ext/mysqlnd/mysqlnd_connection.c
index 5cb416e5ceb..21a542517a9 100644
--- a/ext/mysqlnd/mysqlnd_connection.c
+++ b/ext/mysqlnd/mysqlnd_connection.c
@@ -1436,6 +1436,14 @@ MYSQLND_METHOD(mysqlnd_conn_data, get_server_version)(const MYSQLND_CONN_DATA *
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+#define MARIA_DB_VERSION_HACK_PREFIX "5.5.5-"
+
+	if (conn->server_capabilities & CLIENT_PLUGIN_AUTH
+		&& !strncmp(p, MARIA_DB_VERSION_HACK_PREFIX, sizeof(MARIA_DB_VERSION_HACK_PREFIX)-1))
+	{
+		p += sizeof(MARIA_DB_VERSION_HACK_PREFIX)-1;
+	}
+
 	major = ZEND_STRTOL(p, &p, 10);
 	p += 1; /* consume the dot */
 	minor = ZEND_STRTOL(p, &p, 10);