diff --git a/apisix/cli/ops.lua b/apisix/cli/ops.lua
index 1ee068d6bc9e..16547fce360c 100644
--- a/apisix/cli/ops.lua
+++ b/apisix/cli/ops.lua
@@ -696,7 +696,7 @@ Please modify "admin_key" in conf/config.yaml .
 
         for name, value in pairs(exported_vars) do
             if value then
-                table_insert(sys_conf["envs"], name .. "=" .. value)
+                table_insert(sys_conf["envs"], name)
             end
         end
     end
diff --git a/t/cli/cli_envsubst_confusion.t b/t/cli/cli_envsubst_confusion.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..16d65e0ef5e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/cli/cli_envsubst_confusion.t
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+#
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+# contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+# this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+# The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+# (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+# the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+#
+
+use t::APISIX 'no_plan';
+
+repeat_each(1);
+
+$ENV{SOME_STRING_VALUE_BUT_DIFFERENT} = 'astringvaluebutdifferent';
+$ENV{SOME_STRING_VALUE} = 'astringvalue';
+
+our $yaml_config = <<_EOC_;
+apisix:
+  node_listen: 1984
+deployment:
+  role: data_plane
+  role_data_plane:
+    config_provider: yaml
+_EOC_
+
+our $apisix_yaml = <<_EOC_;
+upstreams:
+  - id: 1
+    nodes:
+      - host: 127.0.0.1
+        port: 1980
+        weight: 1
+routes:
+  - uri: /hello
+    upstream_id: 1
+    plugins:
+      response-rewrite:
+        headers:
+          set:
+            X-Some-String-Value-But-Different: Different \${{SOME_STRING_VALUE_BUT_DIFFERENT}}
+            X-Some-String-Value: \${{SOME_STRING_VALUE}}
+#END
+_EOC_
+
+our $response_headers_correct = <<_EOC_;
+X-Some-String-Value-But-Different: Different astringvaluebutdifferent
+X-Some-String-Value: astringvalue
+_EOC_
+
+our $response_headers_INCORRECT = <<_EOC_;
+X-Some-String-Value-But-Different: Different astringvalue
+X-Some-String-Value: astringvalue
+_EOC_
+
+add_block_preprocessor(sub {
+    my ($block) = @_;
+
+    if (!$block->request) {
+        $block->set_value("request", "GET /hello");
+    }
+});
+
+run_tests();
+
+__DATA__
+
+=== TEST 1: assignment style, the PREFIX 1st - incorrect
+--- main_config
+env SOME_STRING_VALUE=astringvalue;
+env SOME_STRING_VALUE_BUT_DIFFERENT=astringvaluebutdifferent;
+--- yaml_config eval: $::yaml_config
+--- apisix_yaml eval: $::apisix_yaml
+--- response_headers eval: $::response_headers_INCORRECT
+
+
+
+=== TEST 2: assignment style, the DIFF 1st - correct
+--- main_config
+env SOME_STRING_VALUE_BUT_DIFFERENT=astringvaluebutdifferent;
+env SOME_STRING_VALUE=astringvalue;
+--- yaml_config eval: $::yaml_config
+--- apisix_yaml eval: $::apisix_yaml
+--- response_headers eval: $::response_headers_correct
+
+
+
+=== TEST 3: declaration style, the PREFIX 1st - correct
+--- main_config
+env SOME_STRING_VALUE;
+env SOME_STRING_VALUE_BUT_DIFFERENT;
+--- yaml_config eval: $::yaml_config
+--- apisix_yaml eval: $::apisix_yaml
+--- response_headers eval: $::response_headers_correct
+
+
+
+=== TEST 4: declaration style, the DIFF 1st - also correct
+--- main_config
+env SOME_STRING_VALUE_BUT_DIFFERENT;
+env SOME_STRING_VALUE;
+--- yaml_config eval: $::yaml_config
+--- apisix_yaml eval: $::apisix_yaml
+--- response_headers eval: $::response_headers_correct