diff --git a/lib/util/cache/repository/common.ts b/lib/util/cache/repository/common.ts
index 2108a57e66a479..a7fad1e4e28411 100644
--- a/lib/util/cache/repository/common.ts
+++ b/lib/util/cache/repository/common.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-// Increment this whenever there could be incompatibilities between old and new cache structure
 import upath from 'upath';
 
+// Increment this whenever there could be incompatibilities between old and new cache structure
 export const CACHE_REVISION = 13;
 
 export function getLocalCacheFileName(
diff --git a/tools/docker/Dockerfile b/tools/docker/Dockerfile
index fe0ab3b4c3c98a..9780c4399e6c48 100644
--- a/tools/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/tools/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -95,6 +95,10 @@ COPY --link --from=build --chown=root:root /usr/local/renovate/ /usr/local/renov
 # make our node binary available as last in path
 RUN ln -sf /usr/local/renovate/node /bin/node
 
+# ensure default base and cache directories exist.
+RUN mkdir -p /tmp/renovate /tmp/renovate/cache && \
+    chmod 775 /tmp/renovate /tmp/renovate/cache
+
 # test
 RUN set -ex; \
   renovate --version; \