diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 48510f57c40df627175aa06021ade7c755125e97..71658b38137823011127fe82df611c9c46168ba4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Changed
 
 - [core] raise error if mail isn't found in $PATH and reportemail = yes
+- [core] unset BACKUPNINJA_DEBUG before exit
 
 ### Fixed
 
diff --git a/src/backupninja.in b/src/backupninja.in
index a8afc54fd4676010c3e6d1b0c62268e08a106cb9..10a8c6632b453f1cb48b8414b8c21243f09dcaf7 100755
--- a/src/backupninja.in
+++ b/src/backupninja.in
@@ -672,6 +672,9 @@ if [ -n "$reporthost" ]; then
    fi
 fi
 
+# unset exported envvars
+unset BACKUPNINJA_DEBUG
+
 # return exit code
 [ $halts == 0 ] || exit 2
 [ $fatals == 0 ] || exit 2