diff --git a/src/backups.js b/src/backups.js
index 9369ff7d1..bf61f5976 100644
--- a/src/backups.js
+++ b/src/backups.js
@@ -867,7 +867,7 @@ function runBackupUpload(uploadConfig, progressCallback, callback) {
         envCopy.NODE_OPTIONS = `--max-old-space-size=${heapSize}`;
     }
 
-    shell.sudo(`backup-${backupId}`, [ BACKUP_UPLOAD_CMD, backupId, backupConfig.format, dataLayout.toString() ], { env: envCopy, ipc: true }, function (error) {
+    shell.sudo(`backup-${backupId}`, [ BACKUP_UPLOAD_CMD, backupId, backupConfig.format, dataLayout.toString() ], { env: envCopy, preserveEnv: true, ipc: true }, function (error) {
         if (error && (error.code === null /* signal */ || (error.code !== 0 && error.code !== 50))) { // backuptask crashed
             return callback(new BoxError(BoxError.INTERNAL_ERROR, 'Backuptask crashed'));
         } else if (error && error.code === 50) { // exited with error