diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2026-10-15-17-19-41.gh-issue-159452.oJ1saO.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2026-10-15-17-19-41.gh-issue-159452.oJ1saO.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..54ec38f694b2400
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2026-10-15-17-19-41.gh-issue-159452.oJ1saO.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+``Tools/build/regen-configure.sh`` no longer leaves an ``autom4te.cache``
+directory owned by root in the source tree: the Autoconf container now runs as
+the invoking user, and the cache is removed when the script finishes.
diff --git a/Tools/build/regen-configure.sh b/Tools/build/regen-configure.sh
index c7683eb36763aff..fb16e4f0436ef4c 100755
--- a/Tools/build/regen-configure.sh
+++ b/Tools/build/regen-configure.sh
@@ -26,4 +26,11 @@ if command -v selinuxenabled >/dev/null && selinuxenabled; then
     PATH_OPT=":Z"
 fi
 
-"$RUNTIME" run --rm -v "$abs_srcdir:$WORK_DIR$PATH_OPT" "$IMAGE"
+purge_autom4te_cache() {
+    "$RUNTIME" run --rm -v "$abs_srcdir:$WORK_DIR$PATH_OPT" \
+        --entrypoint sh "$IMAGE" -c "rm -rf $WORK_DIR/autom4te.cache"
+}
+
+purge_autom4te_cache
+trap purge_autom4te_cache EXIT
+"$RUNTIME" run --rm -u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" -v "$abs_srcdir:$WORK_DIR$PATH_OPT" "$IMAGE"