diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/lint.yml b/.gitea/workflows/lint.yml
index 623e2f7..56c7777 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/lint.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/lint.yml
@@ -57,12 +57,13 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Install Python 3.10 and pip-audit
         run: |
-          apt-get update -qq && apt-get install -y -qq python3.10 python3-pip
-          python3.10 -m ensurepip --upgrade
-          python3.10 -m pip install pip-audit
+          # Debian Bullseye only ships Python 3.9; use a prebuilt standalone binary
+          curl -sSL "https://github.com/indygreg/python-build-standalone/releases/download/20241002/cpython-3.10.15+20241002-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-install_only.tar.gz" \
+            | tar -xz -C /opt
+          /opt/python/bin/pip install pip-audit
 
       - name: Audit matrixbot dependencies
-        run: python3.10 -m pip_audit -r matrixbot/requirements.txt
+        run: /opt/python/bin/pip-audit -r matrixbot/requirements.txt
 
   secret-scan:
     name: Secret scan (gitleaks)