diff --git a/pkg/debian/postinst b/pkg/debian/postinst
index 2d2ca5338..d36330164 100755
--- a/pkg/debian/postinst
+++ b/pkg/debian/postinst
@@ -4,7 +4,16 @@ USER_ID="cascade"
 
 create_user() {
     if id ${USER_ID} > /dev/null 2>&1; then return; fi
-    adduser --system --home /var/lib/${USER_ID} --group ${USER_ID}
+
+    # Newer versions of Debian/Ubuntu adduser use /nonexistent as the home
+    # directory by default, and don't actually create it. However, the version
+    # of Lintian in these older Debian/Ubuntu versions requires --home to be
+    # specified when calling adduser with --system so we explicitly set home
+    # to /nonexistent to prevent Lintian complaining in the newer O/S versions
+    # and to prevent adduser failing due to the missing argument/to have
+    # consistent behaviour in the case of the older O/S versions.
+    # See: https://lists.debian.org/debian-lint-maint/2025/08/msg00042.html
+    adduser --system --group ${USER_ID} --home /nonexistent --no-create-home
 }
 
 case "$1" in
diff --git a/pkg/rpm/scriptlets.toml b/pkg/rpm/scriptlets.toml
index c0137cb11..233721128 100644
--- a/pkg/rpm/scriptlets.toml
+++ b/pkg/rpm/scriptlets.toml
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ if [ $1 -eq 1 ] ; then
     if ! id ${USER_ID} > /dev/null 2>&1; then
         # According to the CentOS 7 useradd man page:
         # --user-group causes a group by the same name as the user to be created
-        useradd --system --user-group ${USER_ID} --home-dir /var/lib/${USER_ID} --create-home
+        # -M prevents the creation of a home directory for the user.
+        useradd --system --user-group ${USER_ID} -M
     fi
 
     mkdir -p /etc/cascade/policies