diff --git a/awx/main/tasks.py b/awx/main/tasks.py
index 04718c2af7..64cd1fcd65 100644
--- a/awx/main/tasks.py
+++ b/awx/main/tasks.py
@@ -1052,7 +1052,7 @@ class RunInventoryUpdate(BaseTask):
             pass
         elif inventory_update.source == 'custom':
             for env_k in inventory_update.source_vars_dict:
-                if str(env_k) not in os.environ:
+                if str(env_k) not in os.environ and str(env_k) not in settings.INV_ENV_VARIABLE_BLACKLIST:
                     env[str(env_k)] = unicode(inventory_update.source_vars_dict[env_k])
         return env
 
diff --git a/awx/settings/defaults.py b/awx/settings/defaults.py
index 7e5cf1b64a..1fbd7c27f3 100644
--- a/awx/settings/defaults.py
+++ b/awx/settings/defaults.py
@@ -351,6 +351,8 @@ RAX_GROUP_FILTER = r'^(?!instance-.+).+$'
 RAX_HOST_FILTER = r'^.+$'
 RAX_EXCLUDE_EMPTY_GROUPS = True
 
+INV_ENV_VARIABLE_BLACKLIST = ("HOME", "_")
+
 # ----------------
 # -- Amazon EC2 --
 # ----------------