diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-alpine-libexpat.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-alpine-libexpat.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d0f0f19dd80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-alpine-libexpat.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - ansible-test - The ``libexpat`` package is automatically upgraded during remote bootstrapping to maintain compatibility with newer Python packages.
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_util/target/setup/bootstrap.sh b/test/lib/ansible_test/_util/target/setup/bootstrap.sh
index ea17dad3875..707326e6a16 100644
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_util/target/setup/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/test/lib/ansible_test/_util/target/setup/bootstrap.sh
@@ -111,6 +111,15 @@ bootstrap_remote_alpine()
         echo "Failed to install packages. Sleeping before trying again..."
         sleep 10
     done
+
+    # Upgrade the `libexpat` package to ensure that an upgraded Python (`pyexpat`) continues to work.
+    while true; do
+        # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+        apk upgrade -q libexpat \
+        && break
+        echo "Failed to upgrade libexpat. Sleeping before trying again..."
+        sleep 10
+    done
 }
 
 bootstrap_remote_fedora()