diff --git a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/tests/80_upgrade.bats b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/tests/80_upgrade.bats
index a14823a9cc4..9f5bf9c5024 100644
--- a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/tests/80_upgrade.bats
+++ b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/tests/80_upgrade.bats
@@ -58,13 +58,13 @@ setup() {
 }
 
 @test "[UPGRADE] index some documents into a few indexes" {
-    curl -s -XPOST localhost:9200/library/book/1?pretty -d '{
+    curl -s -H "Content-Type: application/json" -XPOST localhost:9200/library/book/1?pretty -d '{
       "title": "Elasticsearch - The Definitive Guide"
     }'
-    curl -s -XPOST localhost:9200/library/book/2?pretty -d '{
+    curl -s -H "Content-Type: application/json" -XPOST localhost:9200/library/book/2?pretty -d '{
       "title": "Brave New World"
     }'
-    curl -s -XPOST localhost:9200/library2/book/1?pretty -d '{
+    curl -s -H "Content-Type: application/json" -XPOST localhost:9200/library2/book/1?pretty -d '{
       "title": "The Left Hand of Darkness"
     }'
 }
diff --git a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/utils/utils.bash b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/utils/utils.bash
index 7b226922814..b204b655ff0 100644
--- a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/utils/utils.bash
+++ b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/utils/utils.bash
@@ -481,12 +481,12 @@ run_elasticsearch_tests() {
     [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
     echo "$output" | grep -w "green"
 
-    curl -s -XPOST 'http://localhost:9200/library/book/1?refresh=true&pretty' -d '{
+    curl -s -H "Content-Type: application/json" -XPOST 'http://localhost:9200/library/book/1?refresh=true&pretty' -d '{
       "title": "Book #1",
       "pages": 123
     }'
 
-    curl -s -XPOST 'http://localhost:9200/library/book/2?refresh=true&pretty' -d '{
+    curl -s -H "Content-Type: application/json" -XPOST 'http://localhost:9200/library/book/2?refresh=true&pretty' -d '{
       "title": "Book #2",
       "pages": 456
     }'
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ run_elasticsearch_tests() {
     curl -s -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_count?pretty' |
       grep \"count\"\ :\ 2
 
-    curl -s -XPOST 'http://localhost:9200/library/book/_count?pretty' -d '{
+    curl -s -H "Content-Type: application/json" -XPOST 'http://localhost:9200/library/book/_count?pretty' -d '{
       "query": {
         "script": {
           "script": {