diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-env-alteration.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-env-alteration.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2bd28d0d31e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-env-alteration.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+    - ansible-test now properly uses a fresh copy of environment variables for each command invocation to avoid mixing vars between commands
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/util_common.py b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/util_common.py
index f4035ee9344..5be20ee749f 100644
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/util_common.py
+++ b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/util_common.py
@@ -335,6 +335,8 @@ def intercept_command(args, cmd, target_name, env, capture=False, data=None, cwd
     """
     if not env:
         env = common_environment()
+    else:
+        env = env.copy()
 
     cmd = list(cmd)
     version = python_version or args.python_version