diff --git a/ci/docker/install/ubuntu_python.sh b/ci/docker/install/ubuntu_python.sh
index b6792a286fad..d31a18d9c303 100755
--- a/ci/docker/install/ubuntu_python.sh
+++ b/ci/docker/install/ubuntu_python.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,12 @@
 set -ex
 # install libraries for mxnet's python package on ubuntu
 apt-get update || true
-apt-get install -y python-dev python3-dev virtualenv wget
+apt-get install -y software-properties-common
+add-apt-repository -y ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
+apt-get update || true
+apt-get install -y python3.6-dev virtualenv wget
+# setup symlink in /usr/local/bin to override python3 version
+ln -sf /usr/bin/python3.6 /usr/local/bin/python3
 
 # the version of the pip shipped with ubuntu may be too lower, install a recent version here
 wget -nv https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
diff --git a/ci/docker/runtime_functions.sh b/ci/docker/runtime_functions.sh
index 60f1c289c0a7..0bbc6d79b9b8 100755
--- a/ci/docker/runtime_functions.sh
+++ b/ci/docker/runtime_functions.sh
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ build_ubuntu_cpu_cmake_debug() {
     cmake \
         -DUSE_CUDA=OFF \
         -DUSE_TVM_OP=ON \
-        -DPython3_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3 \
+        -DPython3_EXECUTABLE=python3 \
         -DUSE_MKL_IF_AVAILABLE=OFF \
         -DUSE_OPENMP=OFF \
         -DUSE_OPENCV=ON \
@@ -539,7 +539,7 @@ build_ubuntu_cpu_cmake_no_tvm_op() {
     cmake \
         -DUSE_CUDA=OFF \
         -DUSE_TVM_OP=OFF \
-        -DPython3_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3 \
+        -DPython3_EXECUTABLE=python3 \
         -DUSE_MKL_IF_AVAILABLE=OFF \
         -DUSE_OPENMP=OFF \
         -DUSE_OPENCV=ON \
@@ -875,7 +875,7 @@ build_ubuntu_gpu_cmake_mkldnn() {
         -DUSE_CUDA=1                            \
         -DUSE_CUDNN=1                           \
         -DUSE_TVM_OP=0                          \
-        -DPython3_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3   \
+        -DPython3_EXECUTABLE=python3            \
         -DUSE_MKLML_MKL=1                       \
         -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release              \
         -DMXNET_CUDA_ARCH="$CI_CMAKE_CUDA_ARCH" \
@@ -893,8 +893,8 @@ build_ubuntu_gpu_cmake() {
         -DUSE_SIGNAL_HANDLER=ON                 \
         -DUSE_CUDA=ON                           \
         -DUSE_CUDNN=ON                          \
-        -DUSE_TVM_OP=OFF                         \
-        -DPython3_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3   \
+        -DUSE_TVM_OP=OFF                        \
+        -DPython3_EXECUTABLE=python3            \
         -DUSE_MKL_IF_AVAILABLE=OFF              \
         -DUSE_MKLML_MKL=OFF                     \
         -DUSE_MKLDNN=OFF                        \
@@ -916,8 +916,8 @@ build_ubuntu_gpu_cmake_no_rtc() {
         -DUSE_SIGNAL_HANDLER=ON                 \
         -DUSE_CUDA=ON                           \
         -DUSE_CUDNN=ON                          \
-        -DUSE_TVM_OP=OFF                         \
-        -DPython3_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3   \
+        -DUSE_TVM_OP=OFF                        \
+        -DPython3_EXECUTABLE=python3            \
         -DUSE_MKL_IF_AVAILABLE=OFF              \
         -DUSE_MKLML_MKL=OFF                     \
         -DUSE_MKLDNN=ON                         \
@@ -957,8 +957,8 @@ build_ubuntu_gpu_large_tensor() {
         -DUSE_SIGNAL_HANDLER=ON                 \
         -DUSE_CUDA=ON                           \
         -DUSE_CUDNN=ON                          \
-        -DUSE_TVM_OP=OFF                         \
-        -DPython3_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3   \
+        -DUSE_TVM_OP=OFF                        \
+        -DPython3_EXECUTABLE=python3            \
         -DUSE_MKL_IF_AVAILABLE=OFF              \
         -DUSE_MKLML_MKL=OFF                     \
         -DUSE_MKLDNN=OFF                        \