diff --git a/src/dialects/mariadb/query.js b/src/dialects/mariadb/query.js
index 0e557e299f95..a2f823e2bbc9 100644
--- a/src/dialects/mariadb/query.js
+++ b/src/dialects/mariadb/query.js
@@ -188,7 +188,9 @@ export class MariaDbQuery extends AbstractQuery {
       if (modelField.type instanceof DataTypes.JSON) {
         // Value is returned as String, not JSON
         rows = rows.map(row => {
-          if (row[modelField.fieldName] && typeof row[modelField.fieldName] === 'string') {
+          // JSON fields for MariaDB server 10.5.2+ already results in JSON format, skip JSON.parse
+          // this is due to this https://jira.mariadb.org/browse/MDEV-17832 and how mysql2 connector interacts with MariaDB and JSON fields
+          if (row[modelField.fieldName] && typeof row[modelField.fieldName] === 'string' && !this.connection.info.hasMinVersion(10, 5, 2)) {
             row[modelField.fieldName] = JSON.parse(row[modelField.fieldName]);
           }
 
diff --git a/test/integration/json.test.js b/test/integration/json.test.js
index 58ef71be4615..3dc53f7416dd 100644
--- a/test/integration/json.test.js
+++ b/test/integration/json.test.js
@@ -200,6 +200,12 @@ describe('model', () => {
         expect(user.username).to.equal('anna');
       });
 
+      it('should be able to store strings', async function () {
+        await this.User.create({ username: 'swen', emergency_contact: 'joe' });
+        const user = await this.User.findOne({ where: { username: 'swen' } });
+        expect(user.emergency_contact).to.equal('joe');
+      });
+
       it('should be able to store values that require JSON escaping', async function () {
         const text = 'Multi-line \'$string\' needing "escaping" for $$ and $1 type values';