diff --git a/hack/jenkins/e2e.sh b/hack/jenkins/e2e.sh
index 3541a4a8ff5..492c215629b 100755
--- a/hack/jenkins/e2e.sh
+++ b/hack/jenkins/e2e.sh
@@ -1039,10 +1039,10 @@ esac
 # AWS variables
 export KUBE_AWS_INSTANCE_PREFIX=${E2E_CLUSTER_NAME}
 export KUBE_AWS_ZONE=${E2E_ZONE}
-export AWS_CONFIG_FILE=${AWS_CONFIG_FILE}
-export AWS_SSH_KEY=${AWS_SSH_KEY}
-export KUBE_SSH_USER=${KUBE_SSH_USER}
-export AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE=${AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE}
+export AWS_CONFIG_FILE=${AWS_CONFIG_FILE:-}
+export AWS_SSH_KEY=${AWS_SSH_KEY:-}
+export KUBE_SSH_USER=${KUBE_SSH_USER:-}
+export AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE=${AWS_SHARED_CREDENTIALS_FILE:-}
 
 # GCE variables
 export INSTANCE_PREFIX=${E2E_CLUSTER_NAME}