diff --git a/packages/js-sdk/tests/sandbox/network.test.ts b/packages/js-sdk/tests/sandbox/network.test.ts
index c728b3f58c..b6d2ebe23c 100644
--- a/packages/js-sdk/tests/sandbox/network.test.ts
+++ b/packages/js-sdk/tests/sandbox/network.test.ts
@@ -205,23 +205,27 @@ describe('maskRequestHost option', () => {
   sandboxTest.skipIf(isDebug)(
     'verify maskRequestHost modifies Host header correctly',
     async ({ sandbox }) => {
-      // Install netcat for testing
-      await sandbox.commands.run('apt-get update', { user: 'root' })
-      await sandbox.commands.run('apt-get install -y netcat-traditional', {
-        user: 'root',
-      })
-
       const port = 8080
-      const outputFile = '/tmp/nc_output.txt'
-
-      // Start netcat listener in background to capture request headers
-      sandbox.commands.run(`nc -l -p ${port} > ${outputFile}`, {
-        background: true,
-        user: 'root',
-      })
+      const outputFile = '/tmp/headers.txt'
+
+      // Start a Python HTTP server that captures request headers and writes them to a file
+      sandbox.commands.run(
+        `python3 -c "
+import http.server
+class H(http.server.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
+    def do_GET(self):
+        with open('${outputFile}', 'w') as f:
+            for k, v in self.headers.items():
+                f.write(k + ': ' + v + chr(10))
+        self.send_response(200)
+        self.end_headers()
+    def log_message(self, *a): pass
+http.server.HTTPServer(('', ${port}), H).handle_request()
+"`,
+        { background: true }
+      )
 
-      // Wait for netcat to start
-      await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 3000))
+      await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 2000))
 
       // Get the public URL for the sandbox
       const sandboxUrl = `https://${sandbox.getHost(port)}`
@@ -231,13 +235,13 @@ describe('maskRequestHost option', () => {
       try {
         await fetch(sandboxUrl, { signal: AbortSignal.timeout(5000) })
       } catch (error) {
-        // Request may fail since netcat doesn't respond properly, but headers are captured
+        // Request may timeout, but headers are captured by the server
       }
 
-      // Read the captured output from inside the sandbox
-      const result = await sandbox.commands.run(`cat ${outputFile}`, {
-        user: 'root',
-      })
+      await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 1000))
+
+      // Read the captured headers from inside the sandbox
+      const result = await sandbox.commands.run(`cat ${outputFile}`)
 
       // Verify the Host header was modified according to maskRequestHost
       assert.include(result.stdout, 'Host:')
diff --git a/packages/python-sdk/tests/async/sandbox_async/test_network.py b/packages/python-sdk/tests/async/sandbox_async/test_network.py
index 1a7dd794a0..8c008371cf 100644
--- a/packages/python-sdk/tests/async/sandbox_async/test_network.py
+++ b/packages/python-sdk/tests/async/sandbox_async/test_network.py
@@ -171,25 +171,27 @@ async def test_mask_request_host(async_sandbox_factory):
 
     import httpx
 
-    # Install netcat for testing
-    await async_sandbox.commands.run("apt-get update", user="root")
-    await async_sandbox.commands.run(
-        "apt-get install -y netcat-traditional", user="root"
-    )
-
     port = 8080
-    output_file = "/tmp/nc_output.txt"
+    output_file = "/tmp/headers.txt"
 
-    # Start netcat listener in background to capture request headers
+    # Start a Python HTTP server that captures request headers and writes them to a file
     await async_sandbox.commands.run(
-        f"nc -l -p {port} > {output_file}",
+        f"""python3 -c "
+import http.server, json
+class H(http.server.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
+    def do_GET(self):
+        with open('{output_file}', 'w') as f:
+            for k, v in self.headers.items():
+                f.write(k + ': ' + v + chr(10))
+        self.send_response(200)
+        self.end_headers()
+    def log_message(self, *a): pass
+http.server.HTTPServer(('', {port}), H).handle_request()
+" """,
         background=True,
-        timeout=0,
-        user="root",
     )
 
-    # Wait for netcat to start
-    await asyncio.sleep(3)
+    await asyncio.sleep(2)
 
     # Get the public URL for the sandbox
     sandbox_url = f"https://{async_sandbox.get_host(port)}"
@@ -200,11 +202,12 @@ async def test_mask_request_host(async_sandbox_factory):
         try:
             await client.get(sandbox_url, timeout=5.0)
         except Exception:
-            # Request may fail since netcat doesn't respond properly, but headers are captured
             pass
 
-    # Read the captured output from inside the sandbox
-    result = await async_sandbox.commands.run(f"cat {output_file}", user="root")
+    await asyncio.sleep(1)
+
+    # Read the captured headers from inside the sandbox
+    result = await async_sandbox.commands.run(f"cat {output_file}")
 
     # Verify the Host header was modified according to mask_request_host
     assert "Host:" in result.stdout
diff --git a/packages/python-sdk/tests/sync/sandbox_sync/test_network.py b/packages/python-sdk/tests/sync/sandbox_sync/test_network.py
index 6e93f13689..0cbe32d972 100644
--- a/packages/python-sdk/tests/sync/sandbox_sync/test_network.py
+++ b/packages/python-sdk/tests/sync/sandbox_sync/test_network.py
@@ -169,22 +169,27 @@ def test_mask_request_host(sandbox_factory):
 
     import httpx
 
-    # Install netcat for testing
-    sandbox.commands.run("apt-get update", user="root")
-    sandbox.commands.run("apt-get install -y netcat-traditional", user="root")
-
     port = 8080
-    output_file = "/tmp/nc_output.txt"
+    output_file = "/tmp/headers.txt"
 
-    # Start netcat listener in background to capture request headers
+    # Start a Python HTTP server that captures request headers and writes them to a file
     sandbox.commands.run(
-        f"nc -l -p {port} > {output_file}",
+        f"""python3 -c "
+import http.server, json
+class H(http.server.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
+    def do_GET(self):
+        with open('{output_file}', 'w') as f:
+            for k, v in self.headers.items():
+                f.write(k + ': ' + v + chr(10))
+        self.send_response(200)
+        self.end_headers()
+    def log_message(self, *a): pass
+http.server.HTTPServer(('', {port}), H).handle_request()
+" """,
         background=True,
-        user="root",
     )
 
-    # Wait for netcat to start
-    time.sleep(3)
+    time.sleep(2)
 
     # Get the public URL for the sandbox
     sandbox_url = f"https://{sandbox.get_host(port)}"
@@ -195,11 +200,12 @@ def test_mask_request_host(sandbox_factory):
         try:
             client.get(sandbox_url, timeout=5.0)
         except Exception:
-            # Request may fail since netcat doesn't respond properly, but headers are captured
             pass
 
-    # Read the captured output from inside the sandbox
-    result = sandbox.commands.run(f"cat {output_file}", user="root")
+    time.sleep(1)
+
+    # Read the captured headers from inside the sandbox
+    result = sandbox.commands.run(f"cat {output_file}")
 
     # Verify the Host header was modified according to mask_request_host
     assert "Host:" in result.stdout