diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/cc-wrapper/cc-wrapper.sh b/pkgs/build-support/cc-wrapper/cc-wrapper.sh
index b8d170df01b73..5da5a51dffdd4 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/cc-wrapper/cc-wrapper.sh
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/cc-wrapper/cc-wrapper.sh
@@ -236,6 +236,12 @@ if (( "${NIX_DEBUG:-0}" >= 1 )); then
     printf "  %q\n" ${extraAfter+"${extraAfter[@]}"} >&2
 fi
 
+# Uses mktemp so should be done before PATH is restored
+if (( "${NIX_CC_USE_RESPONSE_FILE:-@use_response_file_by_default@}" >= 1 )); then
+    responseFile=$(mktemp "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/cc-params.XXXXXX")
+    trap 'rm -f -- "$responseFile"' EXIT
+fi
+
 PATH="$path_backup"
 # Old bash workaround, see above.
 
@@ -246,8 +252,6 @@ if [[ -e @out@/nix-support/cc-wrapper-hook ]]; then
 fi
 
 if (( "${NIX_CC_USE_RESPONSE_FILE:-@use_response_file_by_default@}" >= 1 )); then
-    responseFile=$(mktemp "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/cc-params.XXXXXX")
-    trap 'rm -f -- "$responseFile"' EXIT
     printf "%q\n" \
        ${extraBefore+"${extraBefore[@]}"} \
        ${params+"${params[@]}"} \
diff --git a/pkgs/test/cc-wrapper/default.nix b/pkgs/test/cc-wrapper/default.nix
index 6a0b11a6cc974..847150e61f463 100644
--- a/pkgs/test/cc-wrapper/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/test/cc-wrapper/default.nix
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation {
     NIX_DEBUG=1 $CC -v
     NIX_DEBUG=1 $CXX -v
 
+    echo "checking if cc-wrapper works with an empty \$PATH... " >&2
+    env - $NIX_CC/bin/$CC --version
+
     echo "checking whether compiler builds valid C binaries... " >&2
     $CC -o cc-check ${./cc-main.c}
     ${emulator} ./cc-check