diff --git a/vault/logical_system_integ_test.go b/vault/logical_system_integ_test.go
index 4b03344c25..e61518db80 100644
--- a/vault/logical_system_integ_test.go
+++ b/vault/logical_system_integ_test.go
@@ -647,16 +647,17 @@ func TestBackend_PluginMainCredentials(t *testing.T) {
 
 // TestBackend_PluginMainEnv is a mock plugin that simply checks for the existence of FOO env var.
 func TestBackend_PluginMainEnv(t *testing.T) {
-	actual := os.Getenv(expectedEnvKey)
-	if actual != expectedEnvValue {
-		t.Fatalf("expected: %q, got: %q", expectedEnvValue, actual)
-	}
-
 	args := []string{}
 	if os.Getenv(pluginutil.PluginUnwrapTokenEnv) == "" && os.Getenv(pluginutil.PluginMetadataModeEnv) != "true" {
 		return
 	}
 
+	// Check on actual vs expected env var
+	actual := os.Getenv(expectedEnvKey)
+	if actual != expectedEnvValue {
+		t.Fatalf("expected: %q, got: %q", expectedEnvValue, actual)
+	}
+
 	caPEM := os.Getenv(pluginutil.PluginCACertPEMEnv)
 	if caPEM == "" {
 		t.Fatal("CA cert not passed in")