diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index 9c26cda3..9d86ccd1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -115,16 +115,16 @@ jobs:
         if: env.imagePresent == 'true'
         run: |
           cd ..
-          docker run -p 9200:9200 -d -p 9600:9600 -e "discovery.type=single-node" opensearch-asynchronous-search:test
+          docker run -p 9200:9200 -d -p 9600:9600 -e "OPENSEARCH_INITIAL_ADMIN_PASSWORD=myStrongPassword123!" -e "discovery.type=single-node" opensearch-asynchronous-search:test
           sleep 90
       - name: Run Asynchronous Search Test
         if: env.imagePresent == 'true'
         run: |
-          security=`curl -XGET https://localhost:9200/_cat/plugins?v -u admin:admin --insecure |grep opensearch-security|wc -l`
+          security=`curl -XGET https://localhost:9200/_cat/plugins?v -u admin:myStrongPassword123! --insecure |grep opensearch-security|wc -l`
           if [ $security -gt 0 ]
           then
             echo "Security plugin is available"
-            ./gradlew integTest -Dtests.rest.cluster=localhost:9200 -Dtests.cluster=localhost:9200 -Dtests.clustername="docker-cluster" -Dhttps=true -Duser=admin -Dpassword=admin
+            ./gradlew integTest -Dtests.rest.cluster=localhost:9200 -Dtests.cluster=localhost:9200 -Dtests.clustername="docker-cluster" -Dhttps=true -Duser=admin -Dpassword=myStrongPassword123!
           else
             echo "Security plugin is NOT available"
             ./gradlew integTest -Dtests.rest.cluster=localhost:9200 -Dtests.cluster=localhost:9200 -Dtests.clustername="docker-cluster"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 66d7bb47..2dcb3f89 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ The project in this package uses the [Gradle](https://docs.gradle.org/current/us
 9. `./gradlew asynSearchCluster#rollingUpgradeClusterTask -Dtests.security.manager=false` launches a cluster with three nodes of bwc version of OpenSearch with async search plugin and tests backwards compatibility by performing rolling upgrade of all nodes with the current version of OpenSearch with async search plugin.
 10. `./gradlew asynSearchCluster#fullRestartClusterTask -Dtests.security.manager=false` launches a cluster with three nodes of bwc version of OpenSearch with async search plugin and tests backwards compatibility by performing a full restart on the cluster upgrading all the nodes with the current version of OpenSearch with async search plugin.
 11. `./gradlew bwcTestSuite -Dtests.security.manager=false` runs all the above bwc tests combined.
-12. `./gradlew integTestRemote -Dtests.rest.cluster=localhost:9200 -Dtests.cluster=localhost:9200 -Dtests.clustername="docker-cluster" -Dhttps=true -Duser=admin -Dpassword=admin` launches integration tests against a local cluster and run tests with security
+12. `./gradlew integTestRemote -Dtests.rest.cluster=localhost:9200 -Dtests.cluster=localhost:9200 -Dtests.clustername="docker-cluster" -Dhttps=true -Duser=admin -Dpassword=<admin-password>` launches integration tests against a local cluster and run tests with security
 
 When launching a cluster using one of the above commands, logs are placed in `build/testclusters/integTest-0/logs`. Though the logs are teed to the console, in practices it's best to check the actual log file.
 
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 1103b6fd..a7b84cc6 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ integTest {
     systemProperty 'buildDir', buildDir.path
     systemProperty "https", System.getProperty("https", securityEnabled.toString())
     systemProperty "user", System.getProperty("user", "admin")
-    systemProperty "password", System.getProperty("password", "admin")
+    systemProperty "password", System.getProperty("password", "myStrongPassword123!") // this change is needed for >= 2.12 and should not be backported to < 2.12
     // Tell the test JVM if the cluster JVM is running under a debugger so that tests can use longer timeouts for
     // requests. The 'doFirst' delays reading the debug setting on the cluster till execution time.
     doFirst {