diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 858040b..ecf7f81 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 FROM alpine:3.23@sha256:25109184c71bdad752c8312a8623239686a9a2071e8825f20acb8f2198c3f659
-RUN apk add --no-cache curl docker-cli
+RUN apk add --no-cache curl docker-cli jq
 COPY start-mongodb.sh /start-mongodb.sh
 RUN chmod +x /start-mongodb.sh
 ENTRYPOINT ["/start-mongodb.sh"]
diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index 4281068..3d186a0 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -58,5 +58,3 @@ runs:
     - ${{ inputs.mongodb-username }}
     - ${{ inputs.mongodb-password }}
     - ${{ inputs.mongodb-container-name }}
-  env:
-    REPO_PRIVATE: ${{ github.event.repository.private }}
diff --git a/start-mongodb.sh b/start-mongodb.sh
index efd9e5f..b3b8c87 100644
--- a/start-mongodb.sh
+++ b/start-mongodb.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ MONGODB_CONTAINER_NAME=$8
 UPSTREAM="supercharge/mongodb-github-action"
 ACTION_REPO="${GITHUB_ACTION_REPOSITORY:-}"
 DOCS_URL="https://docs.stepsecurity.io/actions/stepsecurity-maintained-actions"
+REPO_PRIVATE=$(jq -r '.repository.private | tostring' "$GITHUB_EVENT_PATH" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
 
 echo ""
 echo -e "\033[1;36mStepSecurity Maintained Action\033[0m"