diff --git a/bitnami/mariadb/bitnami-utils-custom.sh b/bitnami/mariadb/bitnami-utils-custom.sh
index 2dedd3f2b494..6815cd503b2e 100644
--- a/bitnami/mariadb/bitnami-utils-custom.sh
+++ b/bitnami/mariadb/bitnami-utils-custom.sh
@@ -83,6 +83,12 @@ configure_replication() {
         exit -1
       fi
 
+      if [ ! $REPLICATION_USER ]; then
+        echo "In order to setup a replication slave you need to provide the REPLICATION_USER as well"
+        echo ""
+        exit -1
+      fi
+
       echo "==> Setting the master configuration..."
       echo "CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_HOST='$MASTER_HOST', MASTER_USER='$REPLICATION_USER', MASTER_PASSWORD='$REPLICATION_PASSWORD';" >> /tmp/init_mysql.sql
 
diff --git a/bitnami/mariadb/test.sh b/bitnami/mariadb/test.sh
index 453dd707eb00..3db7a7e8223a 100755
--- a/bitnami/mariadb/test.sh
+++ b/bitnami/mariadb/test.sh
@@ -233,6 +233,31 @@ create_full_container_mounted(){
   cleanup_running_containers $CONTAINER_NAME-slave
 }
 
+@test "Can't setup replication slave without replication user" {
+  create_container -d --name $CONTAINER_NAME-master \
+   -e MARIADB_USER=$MARIADB_USER \
+   -e MARIADB_PASSWORD=$MARIADB_PASSWORD \
+   -e MARIADB_DATABASE=$MARIADB_DATABASE \
+   -e REPLICATION_MODE=master \
+   -e REPLICATION_USER=$REPLICATION_USER \
+   -e REPLICATION_PASSWORD=$REPLICATION_PASSWORD
+
+  run create_container --name $CONTAINER_NAME-slave \
+   --link $CONTAINER_NAME-master:master \
+   -e MASTER_HOST=$CONTAINER_NAME-master \
+   -e MASTER_USER=$MARIADB_USER \
+   -e MASTER_PASSWORD=$MARIADB_PASSWORD \
+   -e MARIADB_USER=$MARIADB_USER \
+   -e MARIADB_PASSWORD=$MARIADB_PASSWORD \
+   -e MARIADB_DATABASE=$MARIADB_DATABASE \
+   -e REPLICATION_MODE=slave
+
+  [[ "$output" =~ "you need to provide the REPLICATION_USER" ]]
+
+  cleanup_running_containers $CONTAINER_NAME-master
+  cleanup_running_containers $CONTAINER_NAME-slave
+}
+
 @test "Replication slave can automatically fetch connection parameters from master using docker links" {
   create_container -d --name $CONTAINER_NAME-master \
    -e MARIADB_USER=$MARIADB_USER \