diff --git a/scripts/tests/test_release_guards.py b/scripts/tests/test_release_guards.py
index 0ace2c87..6cbd9768 100755
--- a/scripts/tests/test_release_guards.py
+++ b/scripts/tests/test_release_guards.py
@@ -1072,7 +1072,10 @@ def test_validator_dotnet_leg_fails_when_no_report_was_written(self) -> None:
                 verdict = run(
                     ["bash", "-c", script],
                     cwd=work,
-                    env={**os.environ, "PATH": f"{bin_dir}{os.pathsep}{os.environ['PATH']}"},
+                    env={
+                        **os.environ,
+                        "PATH": f"{bin_dir}{os.pathsep}{os.environ.get('PATH', os.defpath)}",
+                    },
                     capture_output=True,
                     text=True,
                     encoding="utf-8",