diff --git a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/20_tar_package.bats b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/20_tar_package.bats
index 7139306aece..ddad9979a50 100644
--- a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/20_tar_package.bats
+++ b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/20_tar_package.bats
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ setup() {
 }
 
 @test "[TAR] elasticsearch fails if java executable is not found" {
-  export JAVA=$(which java)
+  local JAVA=$(which java)
 
   sudo chmod -x $JAVA
   run "$ESHOME/bin/elasticsearch"
diff --git a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/plugin_test_cases.bash b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/plugin_test_cases.bash
index ad05c893499..c1872d725ec 100644
--- a/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/plugin_test_cases.bash
+++ b/qa/vagrant/src/test/resources/packaging/scripts/plugin_test_cases.bash
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ fi
 
 @test "[$GROUP] fail if java executable is not found" {
   [ "$GROUP" == "TAR PLUGINS" ] || skip "Test case only supported by TAR PLUGINS"
-  export JAVA=$(which java)
+  local JAVA=$(which java)
 
   sudo chmod -x $JAVA
   run "$ESHOME/bin/plugin"