diff --git a/test/force-auto.py.in b/test/force-auto.py.in
index 0184fd2da..48fa0a519 100644
--- a/test/force-auto.py.in
+++ b/test/force-auto.py.in
@@ -116,6 +116,14 @@ class Test(abc.ABC):
       return "\n".join("RUN %s" % run for run in runs)
 
    def test(self):
+      # kludge up a way to fix centos mirror issue
+      if (self.base == "centos:7"):
+         kludge = f"""\
+RUN sed -i s/mirror.centos.org/vault.centos.org/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo \
+    && sed -i s/^#.*baseurl=http/baseurl=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo \
+    && sed -i s/^mirrorlist=http/#mirrorlist=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo\n"""
+      else:
+         kludge = ""
       # skip?
       if (self.preprep and not (self.force and self.run == Run.NEEDED)):
          print(f"\n# skip: {self}: not needed")
@@ -186,7 +194,7 @@ scope {scope}
 # build 2: image we're testing
 run ch-image -v build {force} -t tmpimg2 -f - . << 'EOF'
 FROM {build2_base}
-RUN {run}
+{kludge}RUN {run}
 EOF
 echo "$output"
 [[ $status -eq {status} ]]
@@ -226,7 +234,11 @@ class RHEL7(Test):
 class T_CentOS_7(RHEL7, EPEL_Mixin):
    scope = Scope.STANDARD
    base = "centos:7"
-   prep_run = "yum install -y epel-release"
+   prep_run = f"""\
+sed -i s/mirror.centos.org/vault.centos.org/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo \
+&& sed -i s/^#.*baseurl=http/baseurl=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo \
+&& sed -i s/^mirrorlist=http/#mirrorlist=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo \
+&& yum install -y epel-release"""
 
 
 class RHEL8(Test):