diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 66352504af2..bcd99293663 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -6,15 +6,20 @@ import org.elasticsearch.gradle.precommit.LicenseHeadersTask
 import org.elasticsearch.gradle.VersionProperties
 import org.elastic.gradle.UploadS3Task
 
-if (project.hasProperty("AWS_ACCESS_KEY")) {
+String envAwsAccessKey = System.env.AWS_ACCESS_KEY
+if (envAwsAccessKey != null) {
+  project.ext.awsAccessKey = envAwsAccessKey
+} else if (project.hasProperty("AWS_ACCESS_KEY")) {
   project.ext.awsAccessKey = AWS_ACCESS_KEY
 }
 
-if (project.hasProperty("AWS_SECRET_KEY")) {
-project.ext.awsSecretKey = AWS_SECRET_KEY
+String envAwsSecretKey = System.env.AWS_SECRET_KEY
+if (envAwsSecretKey != null) {
+  project.ext.awsSecretKey = envAwsSecretKey
+} else if (project.hasProperty("AWS_SECRET_KEY")) {
+  project.ext.awsSecretKey = AWS_SECRET_KEY
 }
 
-
 project.ext.isWindows = OperatingSystem.current().isWindows()
 project.ext.isLinux = OperatingSystem.current().isLinux()
 project.ext.isMacOsX = OperatingSystem.current().isMacOsX()