diff --git a/tests/integration/kubernetes/gha-run.sh b/tests/integration/kubernetes/gha-run.sh
index cf91777337..56c6885f8f 100755
--- a/tests/integration/kubernetes/gha-run.sh
+++ b/tests/integration/kubernetes/gha-run.sh
@@ -215,6 +215,13 @@ function deploy_kata() {
 		  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
 	fi
 
+	# Set the PULL_TYPE_MAPPING
+	if [ "${PULL_TYPE}" != "default" ]; then
+		yq -i \
+		  ".spec.template.spec.containers[0].env[10].value = \"${KATA_HYPERVISOR}:${PULL_TYPE}\"" \
+		  "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
+	fi
+
 	echo "::group::Final kata-deploy.yaml that is used in the test"
 	cat "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml"
 	grep "${DOCKER_REGISTRY}/${DOCKER_REPO}:${DOCKER_TAG}" "${tools_dir}/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml" || die "Failed to setup the tests image"
diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml
index 98817a508f..2b4c4575d9 100644
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/kata-deploy/base/kata-deploy.yaml
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ spec:
               exec:
                 command: ["bash", "-c", "/opt/kata-artifacts/scripts/kata-deploy.sh cleanup"]
           command: ["bash", "-c", "/opt/kata-artifacts/scripts/kata-deploy.sh install"]
+          # NOTE: Please don't change the order of the environment variables below.
           env:
             - name: NODE_NAME
               valueFrom:
@@ -47,6 +48,8 @@ spec:
               value: ""
             - name: AGENT_NO_PROXY
               value: ""
+            - name: PULL_TYPE_MAPPING
+              value: ""
           securityContext:
             privileged: true
           volumeMounts:
diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/scripts/kata-deploy.sh b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/scripts/kata-deploy.sh
index 27be984a2c..a3e231318d 100755
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/scripts/kata-deploy.sh
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/scripts/kata-deploy.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ snapshotters_delimiter=':'
 AGENT_HTTPS_PROXY="${AGENT_HTTPS_PROXY:-}"
 AGENT_NO_PROXY="${AGENT_NO_PROXY:-}"
 
+PULL_TYPE_MAPPING="${PULL_TYPE_MAPPING:-}"
+IFS=',' read -a pull_types <<< "$PULL_TYPE_MAPPING"
+
 # If we fail for any reason a message will be displayed
 die() {
         msg="$*"
@@ -426,6 +429,27 @@ function configure_crio_runtime() {
 	runtime_config_path = "${kata_config_path}"
 	privileged_without_host_devices = true
 EOF
+
+	local key
+	local value
+	if [ -n "${PULL_TYPE_MAPPING}" ]; then
+		for m in "${pull_types[@]}"; do
+			key="${m%"$snapshotters_delimiter"*}"
+			value="${m#*"$snapshotters_delimiter"}"
+
+			if [[ "${value}" = "default" || "${key}" != "${shim}" ]]; then
+				continue
+			fi
+
+			if [ "${value}" == "guest-pull" ]; then
+				echo -e "\truntime_pull_image = true" | \
+					tee -a "$crio_drop_in_conf_file"
+			else
+				die "Unsupported pull type '$value' for ${shim}"
+			fi
+			break
+		done
+	fi
 }
 
 function configure_crio() {
@@ -616,6 +640,7 @@ function main() {
 	echo "* SNAPSHOTTER_HANDLER_MAPPING: ${SNAPSHOTTER_HANDLER_MAPPING}"
 	echo "* AGENT_HTTPS_PROXY: ${AGENT_HTTPS_PROXY}"
 	echo "* AGENT_NO_PROXY: ${AGENT_NO_PROXY}"
+	echo "* PULL_TYPE_MAPPING: ${PULL_TYPE_MAPPING}"
 
 	# script requires that user is root
 	euid=$(id -u)