diff --git a/SubSystems/Online_Cobalt/validation/validate b/SubSystems/Online_Cobalt/validation/validate
index 98a2ced25eed7416eb0376eed08c75e79ce184cb..42756cf710c5613839c308cc4501fa6008f4bc78 100755
--- a/SubSystems/Online_Cobalt/validation/validate
+++ b/SubSystems/Online_Cobalt/validation/validate
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ function runTest() {
   echo "        Time:  `date +"%F %T"`"
   echo "----------------------------------------------------------------"
 
-  if [ "${TEST%%.root.test}" == "${TEST}" ]; then
-    bash -v $TEST
+  if [ "${TEST%%.root.test}" == "${TEST}" -o `id -u` == 0 ]; then
+    ssh -tt localhost "cd $PWD && bash -v $TEST" # need an interactive shell for sudo inside the test scripts
     RESULT=$?
   else
     if [ $CAN_SUDO -eq 0 ]; then