diff --git a/src/libstore/build.cc b/src/libstore/build.cc
index 3fb827a154b..6910e52c5f4 100644
--- a/src/libstore/build.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/build.cc
@@ -2584,6 +2584,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::writeStructuredAttrs()
 
     writeFile(tmpDir + "/.attrs.json", rewriteStrings(json.dump(), inputRewrites));
     chownToBuilder(tmpDir + "/.attrs.json");
+    env["NIX_ATTRS_JSON_FILE"] = tmpDirInSandbox + "/.attrs.json";
 
     /* As a convenience to bash scripts, write a shell file that
        maps all attributes that are representable in bash -
@@ -2653,6 +2654,7 @@ void DerivationGoal::writeStructuredAttrs()
 
     writeFile(tmpDir + "/.attrs.sh", rewriteStrings(jsonSh, inputRewrites));
     chownToBuilder(tmpDir + "/.attrs.sh");
+    env["NIX_ATTRS_SH_FILE"] = tmpDirInSandbox + "/.attrs.sh";
 }
 
 
diff --git a/tests/structured-attrs.nix b/tests/structured-attrs.nix
index 6c77a43913a..7a9a83d603b 100644
--- a/tests/structured-attrs.nix
+++ b/tests/structured-attrs.nix
@@ -38,6 +38,12 @@ mkDerivation {
     [[ $json =~ '"narSize":288' ]]
     [[ $json =~ '"closureSize":288' ]]
     [[ $json =~ '"references":[]' ]]
+
+    [[ -e "$NIX_ATTRS_SH_FILE" ]]
+    [[ -e "$NIX_ATTRS_JSON_FILE" ]]
+
+    [[ "$(<"$NIX_ATTRS_SH_FILE")" = "$(<.attrs.sh)" ]]
+    [[ "$(<"$NIX_ATTRS_JSON_FILE")" = "$(<.attrs.json)" ]]
   '';
 
   buildInputs = [ "a" "b" "c" 123 "'" "\"" null ];