non-root columnstoreBackup requires root ssh-keys - Problem for certain users

Reported by a customer..

We have done non root installation of MariaDB 1.1.6 ( user: mariabkp) , we want to take backup using script "columnstoreBackup"
We have generated ssh keys for password less login for user "mariabkp"

When we take backup using below command, it fails with error -

./columnstoreBackup -zv localhost /db-poc/mariadb_official_bkp/columnstoreBackupData
[2019-02-21 14:50:26] ERROR: This script must be run as root or with sudo
[2019-02-21 14:50:26] Backup Status: Failed

It seems even though installation is done as non root user it still requires sudo permission + password less ssh keys for "root"

After providing sudo permission to user mariabkp and generating passsword less ssh keys for "root" backup command works as below -

sudo ./columnstoreBackup -zv localhost /db-poc/mariadb_official_bkp/columnstoreBackupData

Our concern is we can't provide password less ssh authentication to "root" user.
That is the reason we have done non root installation.

Kindly let us know how to take backup for a non root installation without generating password less ssh authentication for "root" user.

I reproduced the same issue

sudo ./columnstoreBackup -zv localhost /mnt
[2019-02-21 15:44:21] [root] ./columnstoreBackup -zv localhost /mnt
[2019-02-21 15:44:21] ERROR: Cannot connect to root@localhost
[2019-02-21 15:44:21] Check that ssh and passwordless login are available.
[2019-02-21 15:44:21] Backup Status: Failed
[2019-02-21 15:44:21] Runtime: 00:00:00

Need to be able to do non-root ColumnStore backup without requiring root user ssh-keys. This is not possible for certain customers.