diff --git a/dist/tools/buildsystem_sanity_check/check.sh b/dist/tools/buildsystem_sanity_check/check.sh
index dde5b7e1b6..39dfc93b0c 100755
--- a/dist/tools/buildsystem_sanity_check/check.sh
+++ b/dist/tools/buildsystem_sanity_check/check.sh
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('JLINK_PRE_FLASH' 'JLINK_RESET_FILE')
 UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('GIT_CACHE' 'GIT_CACHE_DIR')
 UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('LINKXX')
 UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('APPDEPS' 'BUILDDEPS' 'DEBUGDEPS')
+UNEXPORTED_VARIABLES+=('EMULATOR' 'EMULATOR_FLAGS')
 
 EXPORTED_VARIABLES_ONLY_IN_VARS=()
 EXPORTED_VARIABLES_ONLY_IN_VARS+=('CPU_ARCH')