diff --git a/cli-plugins/manager/manager_unix.go b/cli-plugins/manager/manager_unix.go
index f546dc3849..5e3ae08dbc 100644
--- a/cli-plugins/manager/manager_unix.go
+++ b/cli-plugins/manager/manager_unix.go
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 
 package manager
 
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+)
+
 // defaultSystemPluginDirs are the platform-specific locations to search
 // for plugins in order of preference.
 //
@@ -12,9 +17,8 @@
 // 3. Platform-specific defaultSystemPluginDirs (as defined below).
 //
 // [ConfigFile.CLIPluginsExtraDirs]: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/docker/cli@v26.1.4+incompatible/cli/config/configfile#ConfigFile.CLIPluginsExtraDirs
-var defaultSystemPluginDirs = []string{
-	"/usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins",
-	"/usr/local/libexec/docker/cli-plugins",
-	"/usr/lib/docker/cli-plugins",
-	"/usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins",
+var defaultSystemPluginDirs []string
+
+func init() {
+	defaultSystemPluginDirs = filepath.SplitList(os.Getenv("DOCKER_CLI_PLUGIN_DIRS"))
 }