diff --git a/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/environment.d/10-debian-minimal.bash b/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/environment.d/10-debian-minimal.bash
index f393eb6cc..5ed7c7586 100644
--- a/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/environment.d/10-debian-minimal.bash
+++ b/diskimage_builder/elements/debian-minimal/environment.d/10-debian-minimal.bash
@@ -13,15 +13,16 @@ export DIB_DISTRIBUTION_MIRROR=${DIB_DISTRIBUTION_MIRROR:-http://deb.debian.org/
 # choice is for people to add it separately, otherwise we use
 # upstream.
 DIB_DEBIAN_SECURITY_MIRROR=${DIB_DEBIAN_SECURITY_MIRROR:-http://security.debian.org/}
-DIB_DEBIAN_SECURITY_SUBPATH=${DIB_DEBIAN_SECURITY_SUBPATH:-/updates}
 
 export DIB_DEBIAN_COMPONENTS=${DIB_DEBIAN_COMPONENTS:-main}
 export DIB_DEBIAN_COMPONENTS_WS=${DIB_DEBIAN_COMPONENTS//,/ }
 
 if [ "${DIB_RELEASE}" = "bullseye" ]; then
     DIB_DEBIAN_SECURITY_PATH="${DIB_RELEASE}-security"
+    DIB_DEBIAN_SECURITY_SUBPATH=${DIB_DEBIAN_SECURITY_SUBPATH:-}
 else
     DIB_DEBIAN_SECURITY_PATH="${DIB_RELEASE}"
+    DIB_DEBIAN_SECURITY_SUBPATH=${DIB_DEBIAN_SECURITY_SUBPATH:-/updates}
 fi
 
 DIB_APT_SOURCES_CONF_DEFAULT=\